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NATURAL HEALTH MANY-TO-MANY NEWSLETTER

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WHAT BELIEFS/AXIOMS IMPLY Instinctive Nutrition?--

1--Humans have instincts (Do we? Ayn Rand sez no!)

2--Our food-related instincts are (or can be developed to be) an infallible guide to which & how much original foods are needed by our cells at any specific time.

I THINK those two beliefs are all that's necessary to accept in order to implement Instinctive Nutrition. QUESTION 4 Y'ALL: HELP!! Do you have any evidence for the truth of either of those two "axioms"? Any proof that either are FALSE? Any documentation, research, studies, etc. I'm presently at the "like to believe" level & am proceeding full-bore into this intriguing Instinctive Nutrition 'speriment ANYWAY.

Anops IS the NH approach to nutrition. Just as NH sez listen to & heed your body's signals with respect to when & how much sunshine, sleep, activity, rest, sex, productive work, etc. The body gives clear & simple signals on nutrient requirements & all we need do to hear/feel them is use only "original" (unaltered) food & smell/taste them ONE AT A TIME. Simple & so far, seems to work, even with this body that's eaten NON-instinctively for over half a century!

[Humans & animals]--Thanks for your whack at answering my question. I've given it lots of thought lately, too, 'specially since my immersion in Instinctive Nutrition. After years of learning from Ayn & Lenny & others (thanks for Rand's Playboy interview quote--brought back fond mammaries ;-)) that reason is man's tool of survival & every bit of human activity must be ordained by one's constantly thinking conscious mind, it's taking a bit of cerebral re-tooling to act on my newer belief that it's much more appropriate to delegate MORE tasks to the "subconscious" part of us (such as selecting which foods to eat & how much & when). Humans have only relatively recently sinned by eating of the tree of knowledge (ie, become "conscious" at a level probably not experienced by other animals) & perhaps we've not yet learned when to NOT insist on controlling everything with our intellectual faculties? For example, how's this comparison strike ya:

HOW HUMANS DETERMINING WHICH FOODS TO EAT:

1--Discover which nutrients we need by dissecting live animals & usually dead humans, analyzing cell fragments, studying thousands of "healthy" humans who are mostly sick, programming the results of tens of thousands of studies into computer data banks, researching, studying, experimenting, etc. 'til we're reasonably sure which nutrients humans really need & in what quantities.

2--Determine where these nutrients can be found, using similar techniques as in #1. These results show that the nutrients we need are available in whole natural fruits, veggies, nuts & seeds.

3--Ignore the knowledge obtained from all that work & eat most anything BUT those whole natural foods.

4--Institute MORE studies, using the above methods, to determine how to manufacture synthetic "nutrients" to substitute for the real ones we miss by not eating real food.

5--Still more experimentation, studies, research, cerebral hyperkinesis, etc. in order to formulate & manufacture drugs to suppress the symptoms our bodies manifest in response to the toxins in the non-foods we eat plus the synthetic "nutrients" plus the drugs themselves.

HOW ANIMALS DETERMINE WHICH FOODS TO EAT:

1--Smell the prospective food.2--Taste it.

TIME INVESTED:

Humans--thousands of man-years...Animals--less than one second

RESULTS:

Humans--disease Animals--Optimal Health

Is this a magnificent demonstration of what Deepak Chopra calls Minimum Effort to produce Maximum Result? Viva Instinctive Nutrition!

[Recipes--with Anops, no use of recipes, Right?]--Right.

[My instinct tells me that NH is the truth]--Yeah, mine, too & 2 years ago I'd have felt guilty for trusting instinct for ANYTHING. I hope that's progress! :-)

[Garlic, horseradish]--Anops would say, if it smells & tastes good, eat it 'til it's no longer delicious, but don't add it to salads, 'cause then yer bod can't signal when you've had enough of the garlic NOR the various foods in the salad & they'd also recommend eat the salad the same way, one food at a time, 'tho not necessarily one food at a meal. Lou sez horseradish is a root, like a carrot... true? Anyway by Instinctive Nutrition, eat it 'til it don't taste so good.

[How to get enough calories, concentrated carbs on all raw?]--Yeah, my question, too! In '91, I followed the Goldhamer/McDougal approach & switched from all fruit to a potato, pasta, millet, cornmeal-based diet with steamed squash, etc. In '92-94 I followed Ron Weston's "young sprouts for concentrated carb" routine. Didn't LOSE weight & felt good, but didn't GAIN, either & didn't often feel at peak energy. Since '95 I've been learning to eat instinctively & have gained about 5-8# since 1/95, while x-c skiing lots of kilos, so I guess I'm not wasting away. I've been doing 100% raw food since about 10/91, so you can add one more person to the list of folks claiming superior health on all-raw.

Dunno what would work for you, but so far, I'm pretty impressed with Instinctive Nutrition, for me! Simple, eat anything that tastes good (as long as it's natural, original, unprocessed, uncooked, unfrozen, un-combined, etc.) plant, or animal -- 'tho dairy products aren't considered food for humans -- just eat whatever smells/tastes wonderful & eat that one item 'til it no longer tastes wonderful. For me, for the last two months, about 25% of my food intake has become raw yams & sweet potatoes!! They're wonderful! Most of the young sprouts I'd been eating for the last three years have little appeal & I'm down to TWO sprout trays in perpetual growth atop our refrigerator instead of the five I'd been living out of since '92. Interesting experiment. I 'spect that eventually my bod will lemme know to quit eatin' yams & lemme know what else it wants! I'll report. Back in '90, doin' the COOKED carbo routine, I'd carry an insulated bag of steamed yams or sweet potatoes into a restaurant & munch 'em while normal folk ate the garlic bread or taco chips, then augment my salad with s couple smuggled-in avocadoes. Now, it's much simpler. A jacket pocket or two hold plenty of raw yams & I can eat 'em like breadsticks anywhere! Life's an adventure, eh?! ;-) See watcha get when you ask for eavesdroppers?! (W.C. Fields defined 'em as "icicles")

[Foods we never like?]--Apparently we don't need 'em & therefore they'll be toxic to us & therefore we shouldn't eat 'em 'til we DO like 'em! Simple, eh? & Jeff Bland called "Healthy Hedonism" a myth!! :-)

[Author serious about no mixing?]--Yup. Probably the body can digest combos OK, It's just that when more than a single food is eaten, we dunno when to stop shovelling it in. I'd guess that if we're regularly eating a head of lettuce, four tomatoes, a stalk of celery & two avocadoes for weeks at a time, there'd be no problem eating 'em all at once combined in a salad, but if we throw in a beet or a jicama or some sunflower seeds & have no idea of how much of those things, if any, our bod needs, we'd run the risk of the unneeded "food" becoming toxic. Yes?

[Frozen foods]--Anopsologists determine which foods are proper human foods on the basis of their "alliesthetic" response, their tendency to change taste/smell from pleasant to not pleasant (the "stop") when your body no longer needs their nutrient content. They say freezing destroys this property, therefore, frozen food's no longer proper food & should be avoided.

Anopsology--The THIRD in-English book Deborah's discovered for me on the "I.N." (Instinctive Nutrition", of course!) subject just arrived a few minutes ago (5/28): "Maximize Immunity", By Bruno Comby, a Frenchie PHYSICIST (windsurfer instructor!!) with whom Deborah corresponds frequently & for whom she translates material into my language.

And now, there's a FOURTH IN book in English (Steven Martin, Zephyr's Hawaii publisher, sent me "the only?" in-English copy of Burger's original ('85'?) book on Instinctive Nutrition & I'm half way thru it (as of 8/20/95) -- it's wonderful, even MORE mind-expanding info & from a different perspective -- will report later -- this was after he persuaded me to be distributer for Zephyr's book & sent me a dozen copies, so y'all can get 'em for $20 direct from Zephyr, or I'll send you one post-paid for $17 or, if you have a few friends who want 'em, Steven would probably send you a dozen or so for $13 each.)

Bruno Comby's intro to Instinctive Nutrition starts with Monkey AIDS--
"Roughly 50% of the wild monkeys in Africa are carriers of SIV (Simian Immuno-deficiency Virus), yet all of them are in perfect health. The same virus however is lethal for monkeys in captivity." The author documents those sentences with four respected references, including Lancet, Science, etc. The entire book is meticulously referenced & documented. I sure wish he'd included an index (NONE of the four Anops books have indices!)

Bruno's Introduction: "The human genetic pool was developed over millions of years in the primeval forest, in contact with the things and food found in that environment. [we all agree that's true, yes? -- rw] Because our chromosomes have evolved very little since that epoch [that, too is fact, yes? -- rw], it would seem reasonable that the most natural life pattern for the human species is still one without tobacco and alcohol, in which all food is of the best possible quality and is eaten in the original or natural state without any transformation." I'm eagerly awaiting analysis of that statement by you & Jerry & Ward & Bob & Bernarr & any of the rest of our merrie band who wish to take it on. My present bias is "yes" & I'm carrying on the grand 'speriment to check it out with MY bod. Incidentally, D. J. Scott, on an undated (pre-'80?) ANHS presentation at ANHS (borrowed from CNHS) sez repeatedly that the ideal way to eat is INSTINCTIVELY, just as the rest of the animals, then recommends eating combined & cooked food instead.

When I began this Instinctive Nutrition experiment, I suspected that 50+ years of abuse & NON-instinctual eating would have rendered by senses & instincts, if any, atrophied & non-functional. I doubted I'd ever "learn" to recognize my bod's signals. The only foods I'd ever noticed giving those clear "stop" signals noted by Instinctive Nutrition writers were pineapple & kiwi. Well, big surprise: I received such stops 4/6 with lentil sprouts and AVOCADO, which had always been so pleasant & soothing that I didn't believe it could EVER seem unpleasant. 4/6 PM, after eating only HALF an avocado, it turned absolutely painfully bitter to my tongue & when I foolishly persisted, my tongue even swelled a bit & became painful for about an hour. While my tongue was painfully burning, I still felt "hungry", so I experimented with a few other foods & found raw eggs to be pleasant & ate eight of 'em without a "stop" signal, joyfully vacuuming 'em directly from the shell, like a real animal :-) (quit 'cause I felt full). The tongue returned to normal during sleep. All this meshes beautifully with the Terra Libra plan to add freedom & control to one's life. I'm beginning to accept that no outside authority is needed to provide nutrient advice for humans. All those amino acid & carbohydrate charts, all those hours, years studying food components, etc. were needless?! Exciting, liberating! More reasons for NH folks to sport "QUESTION AUTHORITY" bumper stickers!

QUESTION 4 Y'ALL:
Ward & Lou (& Michele?), two of my favorite & most respected people, tell me THEY get the "instinctive stop" signal from nearly everything they eat, whether cooked, mutilated, combined, mauled, or what. I never did. Denatured, cooked food always tasted good to me, just like the Instincto authors claim. A large steaming clam/olive/mushroom pizza dripping with cheese & sauce always tasted as good to me after I'd shovelled four pounds of it into my face as it did on the first bite. I'd only stop 'cause it was gone or I was full. Do YOU or those you know notice a definite taste-change or "alliesthetic stop" from good to unpleasant with cooked or otherwise processed fude? with raw "original" food? with neither?

YOUR CHANCE TO BE AN AUTHORITY! AN EXPERT, JUST LIKE ME!! ;-) Just read ALL books on the subject of Instinctive Nutrition (I only know of the four in English), think awhile & you'll know more about Anops than 99.99999% of humans ('tho not 0.000001% as much as a lizard), a sure sign of expert status, yes?

An Escape from RULES--I've never liked rules. Natural Law is fact & therefore beneficial to observe. "Rules" are created by human intellect & obeying them is often contrary to reality (& to healthful living). NH teaches to NOT obey the establishment medical "rules". Instead, "listen to your body & follow its signals", then NH proceeds to fill volumes with rules on how to do that! Eat only x in the morning, Y in the day & Z in the evening, Eat only distilled water when you have any symptoms of illness, never eat when you're angry, when you're communicating, reading, never before physical activity, never eat more than x oz. nuts, never eat animal products, fast 'til the tongue clears or 'til "true hunger" occurs, etc., etc.

All those rules are probably necessary if yer eatin' denatured, treated, processed, cooked, combined unnatural foods, since the body does not provide the alliesthetic "stop" taste change to signal when, what & how much to eat. I'm coming to believe we don't need all those rules. Human instinct IS a fact! We only need these two (from pg 198 of Comby's book) for the nutrition part of NH:

1--Offer the body ONLY original foods for which it was adapted, so that the body will give us certain signals in return (green lite or red lite) and,

2--Observe and respect these signals

Because we're "rational animals", we probly need to read those books to convince our cerebrums of the validity of those two "rules" & to learn what IS "original" food & I strongly recommend anyone interested in attaining or maintaining Optimum Health read some of those four books. Instinctive Nutrition IS the nutrition part of Natural Hygiene, even if none of the NH educators 'cept Dr. Deborah yet know it. I deeply hope the NH establishment will integrate Anops rather than resisting it & withering away, leaving Instinctive Nutritionists to build an entire organization & life system in its absence. I fear that most NH folks will view Instinctive Nutrition as an adversary, since so many NH folks are convinced on an emotional level that any concept that allows humans to eat animal products is evil. Hope not. I'll work toward helping the professional integrate Anops as I learn & practice & live it more.

Fasting in Anops Land--Perhaps you'd find these experiences valuable. I'd sure find it valuable to read of another Instincto's fasting experience! I've not yet learned to enjoy fasting & I've not found it necessary for many months. As I was completing my contribution to M2M#19 & abusing myself by inadequate rest/sleep for several weeks operating North Shore Dental, corresponding with 70 dentists & dozens of head-hunters (agents for locating hi-quality dentists) & hiring/training business office team & writing a couple dozen pages of drivel for the M2M, the body started sending STOP signals: gradually increasing nasal congestion, running nose, mild skin eruptions, then sore throat, then glossitis -- burning tongue, & finally 6/2, general malaise, sore, achy joints & muscles, headache, body odor, sore lips. I quit eating 5 PM, 6/2 after getting the instinctive "stop" on watermelon, which I was eating only for the water content. Since I was committed to clinical dentistry 'til today, 6/6, I ate an occasional slice of watermelon each day & a cantaloupe 6/4 'cause I "believed" I needed the glucose or something. My body did NOT want the stuff. It neither smelled nor tasted delicious. I think (can't seem to cease "thinking", 'tho I'm learning to do so re food decisions!!) it was an error to eat when the food was not delicious. Most of the symptoms vanished after a one day fast, 'tho the nasal congestion & glossitis continued & the food did not smell/taste delicious. I'm now (6/6) back to distilled water only & will not eat 'til some bit of food around here smells/tastes delicious (even FAX'd Diamond Organics to postpone my last order for a week. I think (dammit again!) we don't need all the rule books on fasting, either. Just don't eat when no "original" food smells/tastes delicious & resume eating when it does. DUMP THOSE VOLUMES! I'll report as the fast continues & beyond.

Future of Instinctive Nutrition--Bruno Comby's found a winning approach. I think most folks are motivated by "away from badstuff" rather than "toward goodstuff" (they'll act to avoid losing money before they'd act to earn money; they're more likely to act to AVOID cancer than to GAIN radiant health, etc.) Therefore, Bruno's introduction of Instinctive Nutrition concepts to avoid AIDS -- perhaps Americans' most irrational fear -- is brilliant and will be successful. As he points out, "establishment" research is increasingly verifying the Anops approach, which is, of course, the nutrition part of Natural Hygiene. This fact plus the existence of modern information distribution systems WILL produce an unprecedented demand for NH info, creating a great opportunity for Chet's H&B, which is already established as the foremost source of truthful NH wisdom & later for Deborah & Fred, who are poised to revolutionize the world's food distribution systems in order to provide Instincto-quality foods for the newly educated & enthusiastically interested humans!

Instinct & Reason in conflict?--OK, perfesser, I'll give it a try (in the nutrition arena -- I agree with you re instinct/reason re exercise, sex, sleep, etc.: Reason, being conscious by definition, takes into account all info known by the organism (man) on a conscious level, yes? Instinct, "other-than-conscious", yes? uses genetically-coded DNA info accumulated from millions of years of evolution, yes? So how could the conscious info be in conflict with the genetically-encoded info? Well, the evolutionary info, in the case of nutrition, 'cording to Anops, was based on "originally available food" & has not adapted to react appropriately to deranged, altered, processed, combined, cooked fude. It's not that reason & instinct are in CONFLICT, but that our instinct just doesn't recognize entities it ain't been programmed to recognize. Please to correct my fuzzy thinking. Now, mebbe SLEEP is another similar issue? Do our instincts react appropriately to "artificial sunlight" & fail to signal the need of sleep so that when we're in a culture using artificial sunlight to create 24-hr days, we must rely on reason to sleep when needed?

[How to tell ripe vs. green vs. over-ripe avocado?]--Don't bother. If it smells/tastes delicious, the bod needs it; eat & enjoy, whether green, ripe or rotting! If it doesn't taste great, don't eat it!

[Rabies]--One of the Instinctive Nutrition books claims that wild animals, eating their original foods, may carry rabies virus, etc. but never exhibit symptoms, while domestic animals or wild ones living off human garbage DO die of rabies. QUESTION 4 Y'ALL: any input?

Instinctive Nutrition Mouse 'speriment--What would generations of mouses be like if they were NOT fed, simply allowed to select their own diet of 100% "original" foods (whatever that would be for mice -- certainly unprocessed, uncooked, etc, at any rate)? Would they tend to eat one item at a time 'til their bodies didn't need it, then move on to some other original food? Would they tend to be healthier than the mice "fed" your most healthful diet? Live as long? Longer? Any real 'speriments ever carried out like that? The only "experiments" I know of compare wild animals who tend to live like that, with domestic ones that are "fed" human-determined diets. The domestic ones seem to live longer, even if less healthy, but probably they're protected from predators & injuries?

[The idea that instinct & conceptual faculty can't co-exist is vague to me]--Yes, and false to me. Mebbe I'll apply to become the world's first Instinctive Objectivist, surely an oxymoron, eh? Well, beats bein' a CO2 moron, I suppose.

Choosing foods--[Should aloe taste bitter? Should humans eat spinach, etc.]--Instincto answer: Why ask Aspasia or Scott or Ehret, Shelton, etc. why take a vote of the "experts"? How bout doin' it like all the other animals on this planet have always done it with great success? How bout asking the ONE authority that really knows: YOUR OWN BOD!!? Yes, aloe's a wonderful food, as is spinach, when yer bod needs it. In its raw, uncombined, unprocessed state the bod can tell, by sending you smells-good, tastes-good signals. Simple. Dump the cerebration regarding food selecting (quite a challenge for us Rational Animals, huh?)

[Healthy bod needs same as ill bod, just different quantities]--Again, let the bod decide. Cerebration & masturbation are fun, but does the harm we seem to do to ourselves indulging in the former (by selecting foods toxic to our bod based on a consensus of "expert opinions" rather than heeding the body's signals) compensate for the price we pay in symptoms, etc.?

[Instinctos]--I sure appreciate & value your time/effort & feedback re Instinctive Nutrition. Fascinating stuff! The Instincto gurus believe you're WAY underestimating your body's ability to guide you. "Stop" is not just a taste-bud sensitization, but a micro-second reading of TOTAL body system, including what's in the stomach, how much of it will be digested, assimilated, metabolized, excreted, etc. Hard to believe? Yeah, I think so, too, but then I'm handicapped by a couple decades of special "education".

W**k--Interesting piece in Burger's Instinctive Nutrition manuscript--cites some "recent" anthropological research that claims the image of prehistoric humans we were taught in school was grossly inaccurate. The spectacle of pre-humans huddled in caves, laboring 18 hr/day to provide meager food, clothing & shelter was untrue. Early humans had more of a Garden of Eden lifestyle. The hunter/gatherers worked about 2 hrs/day to provide their needs & spent the other 22 hrs sleeping, screwing, playing games, etc. AND they've apparently shown that the few remaining hunter/fruit-picker cultures TODAY work 2 hr 9 min/day & play the rest of the time. The image of humans working 18 hr/day was apparently a creation of the industrial intellectuals to emphasize the benefits of technology & convince folks they were fortunate to only need to work 12 or so hours a day due to the marvels of modern tech. Dunno how any of that is documented. Interesting. Any thoughts?

[No conflict between bodily instincts & reason/morality]--Yes, 'tho reason can be faulty & instincts can be fooled by the results of cerebration.

[love on raw foods vs. rape on cooked foods]--QUESTION 4 Y'ALL FEMALES: When yer hi on cooked foods, do you want your clothes ripped off, etc. or are you looking for a male to rip HIS clothes off, etc.?

[Instincto buffet not a realistic copy of nature]--Of course. Animals forage for what's available. The Instincto spread of lots of foods is an intro to determine what one's body needs, presumably after decades of overeating stuff not needed & undereating on needed stuff by relying on "authorities" to tell us what to eat &/or eating "fude" rather than food. No, it's not necessary to have a huge selection of everything always available. Just select from what IS available & if NOTHING smells/tastes delicious, then eat NOTHING 'til you either forage for different food, have exotic food shipped to you, or what's available again becomes delicious after your bod uses us its stores of the nutrients in THOSE foods..

[Instincto meat]--Yes, must be iced for storage/transport, not frozen & it's recommended that the meat hang around a few days prior to eating on the theory that man evolved as a second-rate carnivore, eating stuff after the original predators abandoned it, rather than fresh. Sounds, great, huh? Most Instinctos eat VERY little animal products.

[Instincto Centers in France]--Yes, they're still operating & Lou & Deborah & I hope to go visit in spring, '96. Yes, I've gotten 0 replays from my correspondence with France nor Quebec. Y'know how those Frenchies are.

Anopsology vs, Instinctive Eating--I suppose they're the same; I prefer to use Instinctive Nutrition 'cause it's a more understandable, positive term, while Anopsology simply means 'the art of not cooking food', a rather negative, restrictive & unfamiliar term. You mentioned not attending the Larkspur celebration partly due to the nausea you experience on the thought of eatin' them dead animals. Relax, babe, the dead animal part is strictly optional; Instinctos eat ONLY what smells & tastes delicious & provides exquisite pleasure & most are either 100% vegetarian or over 90% vegetarian. AND, good news: according to Bruno, by far the BEST quality animal protein for humans is ....INSECTS -- just as you suggested to Ward & me months ago!! Seriously. & I'm presently researching sources! :-)

"A Survival Acre"--In June, the day after Deborah & Zephyr left, Keith Hess arrived. He'd been referred to us for dental care from Redding, CA by the folks who own that organic farm where I described amazing them by devouring one of their organic raw chickens at a dinner at their place (they HAVE invited us back!). Seems Keith is "Wildcrafter" & natural herbologist of world-class expertise (he's also a performer, student & teacher of the Eurhythmic Arts!) QUESTION 4 Y'ALL: Anyone familiar with THAT? I'm still not. He joined us one nite after a dental day for a walk thru the woods behind our home & while we generously fed the mosquitoes, showed us a couple dozen wild plants growing nearby (this is at 6,500 ft elevation!) that could supply most of our food needs AND provide my presently-forming phyto-pharmacy ala Instincto!! I'm excited. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear!! Today, 6/30, I located a review of Linda Runyon's "A Survival Acre", in which she describes eatin' weeds, "Your Edible Landscape", etc. I've sent Ward the review to print & I'll order the book & report to y'all! It's available for $12.50: APOA Books, 2303 N. 44th St, Suite 14/283, Phoenix, AZ 85008

Instincto: Comby on Original Sin--Relistening to Bruno's terrific 1/5-7 Instincto workshop on audio tape: In nature, what's good for the mind (pleasure) is good for the body (optimum nutrition). It's simple, easy. Eat what's delicious & thrive. When humans discovered/created cooked/altered/processed fude, all that changed. Not only are human instincts not adapted to the new "Malliard's Molecules", but those altered molecules are toxic & when accumulated in the body beyond its ability to eliminate them, interfere with the instincts for REAL food, creating a downward unhealthful spiral. So, Eve's original apple was cooked, perhaps the first apple pie! The result in human thought has been that pleasure no longer equates with "good" (chocolate's pleasurable, but bad for the body, etc.) so massive tomes of rules became necessary, not only the volumes of research & rules about nutrition -- what to eat, when, how much & why -- but in ALL phases of society. When humans lost the "pleasure is good" tool, the door was opened for the "suffering is virtuous" death-oriented creed of most religions, etc. So the myth of Prometheus & Pandora represent the early Greek recognition that firing food causes much of human suffering. So, the ONLY way to be really happy in the area of nutrition is to clean up one's instincts & use 'em ... & Bruno feels that the same solution holds for most other areas of human behavior! Interesting perspective.

on "stops"--There are many types of stop, eg the Taste Change is usually a "metabolic stop", letting you know the bod no longer needs whatever nutrients are in the particular food you're eating; muscular cramps (eg, leg or stomach) are generally a "detox stop", meaning that if you continue to eat this food your body will be eliminating some long-stored toxins, but it will be a painful experience & Bruno recommends STOP eating that food 'til later. He recommends that you need ALL green lights to EAT & only ONE sort of stop to STOP eating that food (eg, if it tastes good, but you note a cramp in your neck, quit eating that food.

on what %'s do Instinctos eat?--It's determined by each individual at each meal, could be 100% fruit or 100% insects or varying %'s of 40 different things. Observing hundreds of "Pure & Clean" Instinctos over many years, the %'s seem to average out, over a given WEEK to: 50% fruit, 30% vegetable & 20% "protein" -- the "protein" is usually about 50/50 plant/animal (where "fruit" is defined as anything high in sugar only; "vegetable" as stuff high in water & minerals only & "protein" as most everything else, concentrated foods, foods high in protein OR fat & includes bee pollen, sea veggies, avocado, coconut, nuts, germinated seeds, olives, animals, etc. -- dairy, of course, is totally EXcluded, since it's not an "original" human food). These are rough VOLUME, not caloric, estimates (so on a weekly shopping trip, they buy about those % volume of the 3 categories BUY BY %, EAT BY SMELL). That 50-30-20% scheme also turns out to be what our closest relatives, the chimps, choose to eat. Probably my current intake, re-figured in these defined categories, by volume, is about 25% fruit, 60% vegie & 15% "protein". Soon's I find an easy source of crickets, I'll fix that low "protein" leg!

on Water--Not much I usually drunk by clean Instinctos, since all raw is mostly water anyway. Water intake rises with increased sweating or increased "protein" foods 'cause they're a bit lower water content & many are hi salt (sea vegies, animal protein). Comby recommends store 50+ jugs of various sources of water in your garage; buy 'em whenever you can from various places & sample 'em by smell/taste monthly or so. Also, the stop on water is lost if drunk from a glass, due to the altered hydraulic pressure on the oral & pharyngeal structures. The stop on water is only noted when drinking in the "natural" posture, head forward, mouth down, scooping water into mouth with hand or sucking it out of a creek or bowl. Bruno calls this a "mechanical stop; some muscle in the posterior pharynx relaxes, making swallowing difficult or impossible. sez the "mechanical stops" are more precise & usually occur BEFORE the "taste stops", relates to body's need of minerals in the water. If the water goes down the trachea rather than the esophagus (you inhale rather than swallow) you've gone beyond the stop. Since about 6/1 I've been experimenting by taking the rare water I do drink into my mouth "normally" by glass, then bending at the waist so face & mouth are facing mother earth & swallowing in that position. IT WORKS! After a few swallows -- sometimes during the FIRST, it gets difficult, presumably signalling the body's non-need of water? Interesting! Drink water only on empty stomach to avoid interfering with digestion. Distilled water is roughly equivalent of rain water, so OK, but not as good as variety of water from different locations.

on expanding the consciousness--Bruno's way advanced re "information" in molecules, etc. & very insightful on mental & spiritual growth. Hew notes that most people eat un-consciously, with no conscious goal, purpose or reason at all, just whatever cooked/processed fude seems good at the time (if they only ate whole natural unprocessed, uncooked foods, this might work!). The usual first step when a bit of health awareness comes is a plunge into vegetarianism, sometimes extending to veganism, since the opening to emotions generally reveals a revulsion to filth, rotten foods & eating meat & prompts a gradual shift toward a preoccupation with cleaning foods, perhaps even cooking things more to destroy germs, then toward eating more raw, unprocessed fruits, vegies, nuts & seeds. When the shift to LESS cooked foods occurs, usually there's a RE-opening of emotions & in time, the awareness expands & raw animal products are introduced, then another opening to include "advanced", rotten foods, insects, etc. Bruno feels that we individuals trace the societal progression from the NO nutritional science to the Pasteurean hyper-cleanliness-highly cooked-sterilized foods of the 30-50's to the vegetarianism of the 60's, then the veganism of the 70's, raw food/Hygiene movement of the 80-90's & then to instinctive & totally open concepts, including wild foods, animal foods, advanced foods, etc. He figures this final step of opening is presently 10, 20, maybe 200 years ahead of present society. Pretty interesting, eh!

on Cassia--I've not mentioned this stuff since last year & it's time to report. I've been eating this fruit each morning upon arising as recommended by Burger, Comby, Zephyr?, etc. since 10/95, stopping when it no longer tastes delicious. 'til 5/20/96, this usually occurred after 4-10 discs of the stuff. Reviewing my audio tapes of Bruno's 1/96 IN seminar, I re-learned that the body seems to react to some molecule in the cassia by increasing the effectiveness of all the three detox pathways (from the cells to the blood, the blood thru the intestinal wall & from the intestines out the back door), thus DECREASING the detox from causing "abnormal" symptoms such as headaches, cramps, or, in my case, dermal lesions, by opening the pathways for normal elimination thru the intestinal tract. He recommends starting with 3 discs the first day, 6 the 2nd, 12 the third, then as many as it takes to reach the "stop", continuing this routine daily for the first 6-12 mo. of the switch to Instincto, then using the cassia as a detox-enhancer anytime during your remaining life your bod finds detox necessary. (Yes, a bit of a slip into the ol' therapy mindset, huh?). Also, BC recommends to avoid eating or drinking for several hours after eating cassia, since the tissues don't appear to eliminate & take in nutrients simultaneously, at least the same cells/tissue don't let stuff go both ways at the same time. And he suggests eating the cassia late at night, just before sleep, so that if the body reacts with diarrhea, it would take place upon arising, rather than appearing inconveniently about 1-2 PM if the cassia is eaten on arising (& I recommend brush/floss immediately after -- no toothpaste, of course -- 'cause the cassia stains teeth somthin' awful). I tried the PM cassia routine 5/23 & found the stop didn't occur 'til the 27th disc. I dreaded the diarrhea of the next day & it did not occur, so I've continued eating cassia upon arising (10-15 discs) & just before retiring (10-30 discs) thru 6/4. Will report.

on Insects--Yup, Bruno's SURE that humans will return to insect-eating eventually 'cause it's the protein humans are best adapted to, the protein source most abundant on the earth ('tho algae's the most abundant in the sea -- man's a land-based critter), the protein most easily raised & produced. Insects are the finest human food & I've probably eaten less than an ounce of 'em in my entire life. Still deprived! Will fix; will report.

on elimination vs. digestion--animals either digest OR eliminate, not both at same time & if presented with both options, DIGESTION takes precedence (the intestinal lining is a semi-permeable membrane that only supports transport in ONE direction at a time) QUESTION 4 Y'ALL: Is that true? SO, the reason most "normal Americans" constantly overeat is that they're so toxic that their bodies are constantly eliminating, producing headaches, pains all over, nervousness, weakness, tremors, etc. (all the symptoms people think are "hunger") so they eat more; this stops the elimination/detox & thus the symptoms & that reinforces their perception of detox symptoms as hunger (after all, my "hunger" went away when I ate). I always thought it was just a pathological craving for sugar, salt & grease. This also 'splains the "need" of a breakfast for SAD folk; they start the day with unbearable detox symptoms that are curbed by switching the body from "elim" to "digest" by dumping in food. So, if we unnerstan the process, we can "intelligently" use the process for convenience: if we're detoxing at an inopportune time, say just before giving a speech or proposing marriage to some I.N. nymphet like DB, an apple or an orange could switch the bod to digest for awhile & postpone the detox to a more opportune time. Incidentally, after living instinctively for a while, most folks seem to chose NO breakfast 'til around noon, apparently allowing the bod to use the morning hours to continue elimination, sometimes "aided" by a few disks of cassia.

[Cut the bad parts off?]--True instinctos, like Bruno, Zephyr & Deborah, leave defining the "bad part" to instinct. If it smells bad they don't put it in their mouths. If it tastes bad they spit it out & don't put more in. If it LOOKS bad, they smell/taste test anyway. I'm SLOWLY learning to do this (it seems wasteful & socially rude to eat this way & I realize both those opinions of mine are very unhealthful & I'm SLOWLY overcoming them. Soon I'll be eating by the compost pile, away from all "normal" humans.

[No stop on bee pollen]--Wow, I sure get a screeching stop. Is what your eating heated, frozen, messed with? I've not ordered any for many years & seldom eat it, but it sure lets me know when to not eat it!

[Genuine Hunger, Vit B12]--Brilliant compilation of NH definitions. Much appreciated THANK YOU!! I still am not completely sure about this one; still believing I overeat & therefore mebbe never experience true hunger. What I've been doing lately, when I get what I interpret as a nutrient need signal (generally it IS a pleasant feeling at the base of the tongue as NH folks sometimes describe), I try a bit of distilled water, taking it intra-orally, bending at the waist & swallowing. Usually it's difficult to swallow in that position (but sometime's it's smooth & wonderful & I'm relearning "thirst" -- ridiculous at my advanced age, eh? but better than never!) & so I smell whatever food's available & taste what smells delightful (& if noting smell much, I'll usually taste something anyway & chew & swallow if it's wonderful.

[Does a food taste bland 'cause the body doesn't want/need it or 'cause it's poor quality?]--Yes

[Dr. Jeff Hazim]--Who's he? Sounds like he's discovered I.N.![Ward's "to return to a pristine state of "instinctive eating" would necessitate returning to the undifferentiated consciousness that accompanied that state"]--I disagree with it or maybe don't understand it.

[Why does cooked fude taste good?]--You asked in #24, I answered that cooked foods are devised by humans to fool the instincts, perhaps mimicking the smell/taste of some wonderful raw food... 1/6 in Larkspur, Bruno answered the same question, possibly from PETER BRANDT, "exotic molecules in the cooked food stimulate neuroreceptors to produce pleasure, much as electrodes to pleasure centers in the brain or psychedelic drugs injected into the body stimulate pleasure. Once one has lived instinctively long enough, the cooked foods no longer rival the exquisite smell/taste of raw food." Better answer, but you'd expect that from a nuclear physicist who's studied instinctive eating for a decade.KENDALL BLACK--Yeah, our M2M's like life & a computer & a sewer; what we get out of it depends on what we put into it.PETER BRANDT--Sure enjoyed your visit. Many thanks! I've given considerable thought to some of your questions that I think I didn't answer well for you:

[How can it make any sense that you ate two eggs every day all your life 'til age 45, then ate NO eggs, nor any other animal products, for 6 years, then start Instinctive Nutrition & tell me your body signals to eat ten eggs one day, 14 a few days later, eight a few days later,` etc.]--I'm assuming the fact that my bod finds the eggs delicious means I'm depleted in some nutrient(s) due to the six animal-free years. I suspect I'm incorrectly over-riding my instincts & probably should eat nothing BUT eggs 'til I get a "stop". I'm still learning & fear overeating on something like eggs due to perhaps misinterpreting the stop, or mebbe not getting a stop 'cause the eggs are somehow not instincto quality, etc., so I eat other delicious things for a few days & return to the eggs later.

[Doesn't Instinctive Living imply or require selfishness or Egoism?]--It sure does!

[Flatulence]--Yes, gluttony is my prime source, too!

[Why have we strayed so far from instinctive eating?]--Cooked food tastes good & our instincts don't work with cooked food.

[Phyto-pharmacology]--[What 20-30 herbs does Burger recommend?] I dunno. When I asked Bruno, he said it's better to gather your own, locally & now Keith Hess has appeared to help me do that, 'tho I believe I'll start by paying Keith to gather & dry & label 'em for me, perhaps learning enough to intelligently gather wild herbs myself SOMEday. I've also ordered a few from a local supplier as noted above. [eat herbs instinctively?]--Of course, I've been considering them "micro-nutrients" & as of now, I'm using the term "Instinctive Herbology" rather than "Phytopharmacology". THANK YOU!! I'm new to this area. What's the proper definition of "herb"? Taber's Medical Dictionary sez it's Latin for "grass" & refers only to "a plant with a soft stem containing little wood". Big help, eh? Webster's further specifies that the stem withers away after each season's growth rather than persisting as with trees & shrubs.

[Instinctive Exercise] Yess!!, of course!! :-) Wonder how far we can carry this ... how 'bout "Instinctive Death", when we get a 'stop' on life?!? :)

Overcoming Overeating with I.N.--Just 'sperienced a breakthru on control of overeating, one of my two worst life-time health abuses (the other, of course, being under-sleeping). Perhaps it could help others: I've always eaten more than I should due to 1--I like eating & 2--Lifetime of positive reinforcement for "eating everything on my plate, not wasting food" & negative reinforcement for "wasting food", so, if I open my fifth very expensive mango or papaya or cheramoya & voila, it doesn't taste great, I eat it anyway, 'cause I "need" it & don't wanna "waste it". Possibly inspired by watching Bruno, Julia, Zephyr & Deborah proudly "waste" food at the exact moment it quit tasting delicious, I just today, 8/6/96, made the breakthru behaviorally! Intellectually, I realized that the mango I was just beginning to eat no longer tasted as delightfully delicious as did the first bite, three mangoes ago, yet I was continuing to eat it. The thought process went: my error was in opening the mango when the body didn't need it. the OPENING was when it was wasted (unless I give it to a friend who does need it), regardless of what I do with it NOW. If I EAT it, I not only WASTE it, but I waste it PLUS damage my holy body simultaneously, compounding the original INNOCENT error into a KNOWINGLY COMMITTED ERROR, an immorality against my own body. It sunk in & I finally acted on it, after 50+ years, I PROUDLY dumped the un-eaten mango into our composting pile & felt guilty NOT!! A MAJOR breakthru for this pilgrim. I'll be "healthfully wasting" un-needed foods for the rest of my life & as my smell-instincts improve, I'll be wasting less 'cause I'll be better able to tell BEFORE opening the food. IN is fulfilling, challenging, rewarding. It IS the nutrition part of NH!

T.C. Fry--Those who knew him said he had a brilliant mind, had a clear & firm grasp of NH truth, could beat 12 talented chess players at one time blindfolded & had teeth that could crack Brazil nuts before he destroyed his mind & mouth with the 100% sweet fruit addiction madness.

Interesting: I got to live for a week with several NH Masters, folks who'd been living -- & usually teaching -- NH for 10-40+ years. None of these folks had studied I.N. & most of the group had never heard of these concepts, yet most of them were eating instinctively, spontaneously stopping their eating mid-portion (they seemed to do this sub-consciously, I assume as triggered by stops they were aware of at some level & it did seem to work better when they ate one food at a time, which the old-timers seemed to prefer to do -- except with the salads, of course). While most of their conscious minds seemed closed to any acceptance of I.N., they were mostly LIVING I.N. much better than people like me are doing with all this intellectualizing about it. Conclusion: This discussion, analyzing, cerebralization is a necessary part of the learning-transition period & soon I'll get past that & just LIVE it, instinctively. I'm looking forward to that SOON ... as should YOU, 'cause then I'll probly quit boring you with all this I.N. drivel!

[Instincto -- spit out mouthful vs. finish the serving]--This is a toughie for me. I'm finally learning to quit AFTER that mouthful (just today quit in mid-avocado! & put the seed back in, sealed with saran wrap & am committed to compost if it's not delicious -- or et by Lou -- another day!!) VERY difficult progress as noted under MY "Pilgrim's Progress" section. Before reading Burger & watching the disgusting & inspiring way Zephyr eats (by the way, he sent me his new edition -- VERY professional & has some new stuff, especially DENTAL stuff!! Lou borrowed it this morning to lend to her 93 yr-old mother she's visiting in Salinas 'cause the old broad met Zephyr here last December & she has a rather flexible mind! If ya ain't read his book, the new edition's great & costs less -- probably $15 plus S&H from Manis at Pangaia, Box 3950, Pahoa, HA 96778, (808) 965-6069), I believed that our instincts could actually determine how much of the nutrient IN OUR MOUTHS would be digested, metabolized & assimilated & so we simply don't shovel any mo' in, not necessary to spit out. That don't make no sense. The option to not spitting it out is to eat unneeded & therefore probably undigestible & therefore probably toxic chemicals. If I'm eatin' alone, I DO spit out at the moment the stop occurs. I've alienated myself from other humans to the point where I just don't have what it takes to spit out masticated food in front of others, 'tho if I lived in Pangaia I'd likely do it easily! Gotta go visit, even 'tho I'm probably not advanced enough to find ecstacy in watching Zephyr climb a coconut tree nude (might be OK if watching from the top of another coconut tree, but from below? -- naaaah.)

Phytopharmacology--When I 'splained my approach to Keith, he dubbed it "Reverse Herbology", 'cause instead of looking up in the herb book what stuff to "take" for whatever symptoms I notice, I'll be tasting/eating whatever my BOD dictates, THEN, perhaps checking in the ol' herb book (which I don't yet own) to see what symptoms people have recommended this body-selected herb to "treat" & then check to see if I HAVE any of those symptoms -- so I'll be checking on the accuracy of the Herb books as far as MY bod goes. Should be an interesting journey. Keith's fascinated by the idea, tho his belief/system is still committed to helping folks by "treating" 'em; strong 'therapy mindset'

[Few stops on grains, nuts, seeds -- due to soak/rinse?]--I'd guess soak/rinse would have no effect; these things were likely to have happened to them in nature. & if they sprout, I'd conclude they haven't been excessively thermally deranged. Therefore, you need 'em?! BUTT ... I've had similar experiences with nuts & I'm gradually coming to accept Bruno's explanation that the damn things are cooked (heated above 105øF during drying cycle after they're washed). Just this morn, 8/13, I began your 'speriment, attempting to sprout my Jaffe in-shell almonds, brazils, macadamias & filberts, as well as walnuts & pecans, which I'm soaking/rinsing IN-Shell, 'cause I can't coax 'em out without breaking the seed (All of which Al Jaffee gave me written verification had NEVER been heated over 105øF). I'm soaking 'em all overnight, then dumping half of each type into SproutMaster trays, rinsing 'em twice a day as with buckwheat, etc. RESULTS: after four weeks, about 10% of the almonds are trying to sprout & everything else is simply rotting. I'm concluding that only the almonds are still real food & the macadamias, filberts, walnuts & pecans are all dead except for the delicious worms in 10% of the walnuts. Very sad ... & expensive, since I've got about $150 worth of these tasty dead morsels! Lou sez the test may not have been fair & I should try putting the nuts in moist soil & see what happens. I probably will. Will report.

[Instincto grains]--No problem. Instinctos say they're original foods, so if they smell/taste great, go for 'em -- raw, of course. Instincto's observation (Burger & Bruno): Folks eating instinctively for a few years only eat grains as <5% of their food intake, therefore, once any deficit is corrected, the apparent human need is small. How do you find millet, oats & rice delicious & delectable raw? MY observation: I've tried sprouting these & have had zero success with MANY varieties of rice. Oat, barley & rye taste good to me VERY occasionally ('tho barley & rye were my favorites in the first few months of substituting Weston's "young sprouts" for Goldhamer's steamed vegies & grains in '92 -- when I was combining the sprouted grains with stuff like tomato & avocado -- now buckwheat's my favorite & I only eat that one once or twice a week & often get a stop before completing the SproutMaster tray made with about 3/4 cup of dry buckwheat two days prior).

[Supermarket cow OK to eat]--No, not by Instincto standards. I did it awhile before locating better sources of dead animal products; raw, of course. I'm not proud of that low point in my Instincto 'speriment; admitted it to y'all only to maintain my integrity.

[If there are 20 nutrients in a food ... do you get a stop after the body's had enough of ONE nutrient or 'til it's satiated on all 20? & if it's not 'til after all 20, aren't the excesses of the other 19 toxic? & if it takes only one, then how does the body get enough of the others & does the stop signal nutrient satisfaction or the lack of chemistry to handle the nutrients, or both?, etc., etc., etc....]--EXACTLY the same sort of question as "In a free market, who builds the roads, how is communication paid for, how does space travel & migration to Earth-like planets arranged, etc., etc., etc.?" And EXACTLY the same answer: "I don't know; perhaps NO ONE knows, AND the free market is the total of the conscious/survival/entrepreneurial wisdom of all humanity; it will find the best answers to all those questions & millions we haven't yet imagined. Instinct is the total of the conscious/survival/entrepreneurial wisdom of all LIFE & it HAS discovered the answers to all those questions & while it would be interesting to know the answers, it ain't necessary for PRACTICING Instinctive Nutrition.

[Chronic pain not experienced by Instinctos]--Could be! The only chronic pain I remember was from a back problem from '75-'88 or so. It disappeared prior to my discovery of I.N. QUESTION 4 Y'ALL: Did any of you Instinctos have chronic pain before I.N.? Still have it? Gone? Strange how things happen: It's 1 AM, 9/4 & Lou & I are visiting my mother to help with some personal matters after dad's death 7/25. I awoke at midnight, took a shower & read your comments about pain & while writing this at my dad's desk, I just noticed his 1897 bible, which I'd not seen in about 45 years. (It was probably the bible they sent me to Sunday school with; mom has written my name on the inside cover.) Someone, perhaps my dad, who was deeply religious & had zero respect for churches & most religionists, had marked & highlited only two passages in the entire book. The second was Revelation, Ch 21, 3-4 "...God is with men, and he will dwell with them....and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes...neither shall there be any more pain". Are our instincts part of this god within us?

[What's the downside of juice, as opposed to water?]--From the Instincto perspective, juice is a fragmented food, water's a whole food, I've pretty much quit offering my bod anything but whole foods. From the NH perspective, juice requires some processing by the body, while water does not, therefore the restful benefits of a fast are lost when ANY food is taken. I'm coming to believe that the only time the body needs a fast is when no foods smell wonderful & taste delicious. Simple!

Instincto theory (generally based on Burger's 30+ yrs observations of perhaps 10,000 humans living that way) sez 1--the body usually reacts to cassia by opening all EXIT processes/pathways 6-10 hrs after ingestion of the cassia (cells-to-blood-stream-to-intestine-to anus) -- consistently verified by my own experiences in last 2 years!) AND by simultaneously closing all ENTRY (mastication, ingestion, digestion, assimilation, etc.) & that therefore, 2--EXIT & ENTRY processes don't occur simultaneously (the bod can't/doesn't digest & eliminate at the same time). QUESTION 4 Y'ALL: Is this true? I find it difficult to believe that even a single CELL couldn't do IN & OUT simultaneously, let alone an entire SYSTEM of cells (tissue, an entire system of tissues (organ) or our entire system of ORGANS (the body/mind). Is there scientific evidence that IN/OUT can't happen simultaneously? (Polish sex manual excluded, of course By the way, kids, is there a less cumbersome term for the totality of the "body/mind" y'all prefer? Even 'tho I'm not convinced on this theory, I've re-scheduled my cassia intake from early morn to just before bed & am with difficulty ceasing my food intake by 6-7 PM to determine if the extra time for cassia-aided detox (midnite to noon) is beneficial or if the late nite cassia will impair the digestion of food in the gut & cause MORE toxicity. Will Report.

[LACK of animal protein makes people more aggressive, or are aggressive types attracted to vegetarianism?]--VERY interesting. & now that you mention it ('cept for Sandy & Deborah & Frieda & a few dozen others) I HAVE noticed that tendency! :-) Burger, as reported by Ronald Bluhm, PhD, 4/95 workshop, sez that aggressiveness & anger are typical (usual) symptoms of GRAIN detox, especially whole wheat bread ( he notes that since bread is flour & water, glue, made edible by adding the bubbles from yeast, so bread = "carbonated glue") & cereals (depression, dullness, sorrow are emotional symptoms of sucrose detox). They've tracked thousands of folks who've begun the Instincto system & can rather accurately determine just what chemicals are being eliminated at a given time (via food history & smell of feces & other excretions) & those to emotions are CONSISTENTLY tied to detox from cooked grains & sucrose. so ... is it the vegetarianism that causes the aggression, or be it the dining on cooked grains??? (I'm told that Hitler & Mussolini were strict vegetarians & I suspect they seldom ate any raw food.) QUESTION 4 Y'ALL: Any experiences, comments, observations of self or others relating emotions/behaviors to fudes?

[Starting animal products with dairy!?!]--But it ain't an original food; it ain't Instincto! Give animals a chance at providing yer food by eating them raw, even unborn, as eggs, not by sucking that goat excretion! Oh, well, keep us informed, I AM interested in the symptoms a vegan will experience on dairy! ;-)

[Fruit-restricted Diet]--Ron Weston wouldn't consider 25% much of a restriction -- recommended 10% for me.

[Overnutrition], eh?--I'm more guilty on this one than thou. Perhaps, for you, just adjusting your semantics would help? From an Instincto perspective "overnutrition" ain't even possible, since you can't overeat on any food the body presently needs & if the body DOESN'T need it, it's NOT a nutrient at that time; it's toxic.

Aggressive behavior 'mongst M2M folk?--Guy Claude Burger suspects grain/cereal detox.

[Spiritual Instincts]--Yes, you & Peter are on the right path! Bruno Comby is one of the most caring, loving, compassionate folks I've ever met, as are Zephyr & Christopher Morrill, yet they'd kill/eat animals & show great respect for those animals. Contradiction? Nah.

[Cannibalism?]--Great idea. I can think of several lawyers & politicians whose lives would greatly enhanced by death. Too bad they're too toxic to eat. Cannibalism not likely for Instinctos 'cause the SAD folks are too toxic & the NH's & IN's are too respected alive to kill for food. In 30 years of observation of several thousand Instinctos no one's even REPORTED an incident of cannibalism & probably Instinctos have never even needed to kill each other in self defence (opinion).

[Cooking is necessary for flesh]--False. I just finished a wonderful portion of uncooked free-range turkey from Woolie Bird Farms in Santa Rosa for Thanksgiving din-din as I complete this tome at the last minute![Why aren't the raw-meat eaters afraid of trichinosis?]--I got similar questions about Salmonella in my TG turkey (& it's the first turkey I've ever et raw, so mebbe I'll have a great Salmonella story for y'all next issue! The observation of the Instinctos is that parasites of all types ('cept perhaps that of malaria) tend to pass thru the GI tube of those not poisoned by cooked foods without doing any harm.

[What does raw egg yolk contribute]--IF the bod needs it , it contributes wonderful smell, delightful taste &-contains EXACTLY the nutrients the bod needs just now ... & if it DOESN'T smell/taste great, it contributes TOXINS. Simple, eh?

[Instincto answers to scaly skin & brittle nails from citrus?]--I'd guess they'd claim the conditions never occur 'cause the Instinctos would never overeat on the citrus foods due to heeding the 'stops', right, Kirt?

[Raw grains are an acquired taste]--If it's a natural,original food that the body needs, it tastes great without "acquiring" a taste; if not needed, why bother "acquiring a taste" ("tolerating a toxin", like nicotine, caffeine, etc.)?

[I seldom detect Instincto "stops" on grains]--I sure do!

[We eventually start eating less when the food quality is higher]--Yes, I'm slowly noticing that, too.

[mucho detoxo on 90% raw]--Burger & Bruno's observations seem to conclude that 90% raw may provide ONLY 50% of the benefits of 100% raw 'cause the Malliard's Molecules in that 10% cooked fude poisons the bod considerably.

[I'm a 'clean your plate', ,not a 'spit it out' person]--Yeah, me, too & I'm improving all too slowly. Here's part of the thought process that's helping me overcome a half century of 'cleaning-your-plate-is-a-great-virtue' mis-education: When the body signals a 'stop', it's signalling not only that the food is no longer needed, but that the body can't process any more of that food right now; the digestive chemicals needed are not there right now & therefore, IT'S NO LONGER FOOD; it's poison. Me eating that poison at that time is no benefit to the starving masses in Ethiopia; it's ALREADY wasted (unless I can store it 'til later or give it to someone who can use it NOW). My eating it NOW not only wastes IT, but wastes ME as well. THAT's the harm in 'overeating'; there ain't no such thing as 'overeating' on foods that the body needs and can digest, assimilate, metabolize; I can eat 10# of THAT & still be 'undereating' but if I eat one gram of a substance the body doesn't need & can't digest, assimilate, metabolize, I'm overeating ... & poisoning myself. Interesting concept? Only makes sense if one believes that our instincts are that 'smart'. The more I practice Instinctive Nutrition, the more I'm coming to believe they are (or at least can be) & the more my eating behavior is improving (of course normal folks don't see these changes as "improvement" as dictated by their belief system & we're all used to that, yes?)

Pilgrim's Progress--EAT LESS!! That message has been hammering me from the pages of the M2M (most recently from the first Email I've ever received .... from our new coordinator, no less!-- & from my own brain & I thought I was hopeless. However ... just noticed I'm buying/eating about 30% less food than I was two years ago! AND I've gained about 15# in those two years! I THOUGHT it was 'cause I've been buying/eating a much greater % of ORGANIC foods & the quality must be so much better I don't need to eat as much. Could be ... BUTT, I'm currently thinking that Instincto is the important factor. Eating one thing at a time & stopping when the taste changes provides all the nutrients needed, all the pleasure possible & none of the toxins I usta eat when I'd combine a buncha foods so the bod couldn't signal which ones to quit eating. Beautiful system, this I.N.!!

[Favorite fruit]--Whichever one smells/tastes the best at a given time. Presently would probly be ripe persimmons, durian, cheramoya, Mex papaya, 'tho for long-term, my guess would be like yours, bananas. HOWEVER, for Instinctos, probably ANY one food for life would be hell 'cause we'd eventually get the 'stop' & from that point on, that "food" would be toxic, unpleasant,non-nutritional & perhaps deadly non-food.

[Doesn't dried animal fat have the problem of going rancid?]--Well, perhaps it does & if so, I'm glad it's the problem of the fat rather than MY problem. However, please clarify: what is rancidity? Why & to whom is it a problem? Them instinctos figure that if it's toxic to the bod, it won't smell nor taste great, therefore won't be eaten, so ... no problem. If it DOES smell/taste great, then there's somthin' in there the bod needs ... no problem.

After two years of asking -- & now answering -- questions about Instinctive Nutrition, I'm noticing that many of 'em (like aren't Instinctos worried about salmonella? concerned about trichinosis? rancid fat? Isn't aflatoxin a nerve poison? Doesn't avidin cause scabies in beetles, etc.) are all variations of the ONE QUESTION ya gotta answer BEFORE yer brain will let you "try" Instinctive Nutrition: "Am I willing & eager to rely on my own instincts in preference to the combined wisdom of Herbert Shelton, Ward Nicholson, Virginia Vetrano, Alec Burton, James Michael Lennon, TC Fry, Covert Bailey, John McDougall, Carlton Fredericks, Nathan Pritikin, Adelle Davis & all the hundreds of thousands of wise, capable, brilliant researchers, teachers, writers & gurus?"

My answer is, "Yes, of course. My instincts contain the combined wisdom of thousands of millions of years of information, not just the cerebral creations of a few hundred years of human cerebration." & the answer for 99.999999% of the other humans is, "No, of course not. Instincts are for animals ; humans don't have 'em & if we did, they'd be unreliable & certainly no match for our superior intellect." Only with that belief system change will there ever be an end to the "What about microbes, etc.?" questions. Yes, I don't know how I happened to make that change. I'm a student of Ayn Rand's Objectivism & a student of nutrition, health, medicine & dentistry since the 60's. Strange!

[Bruno sez widespread cooking is only 12,000 years old ...]--Bruno told us 1/96 in Larkspur that even if humans were cooking a million years ago, we couldn't possibly have adapted our physical, biochemical metabolism to deal with Malliard's Molecules in that few generations.

[Desiccation of the meat is tantamount to cooking, so why not just cook it?]--Instinctos would likely claim that the drying process is a natural one, so we're adapted to the resultant chemicals, whereas the heating process is not, so we're not.

[Drinking fluids--not born with cup & can't lap -- how much & what kind do you drink?]--Yeah butt, we were born with cupped hands & we CAN drink from stream, lake, basin -- all with HORIZONTAL, not vertical, head position & in THAT position, we get a mechanical Instinctive "stop" when swallowing becomes difficult. From '90-'96 I drank near ZERO water nor anything else (& peed a lot, so I don't think I was dehydrated). I ate/eat LOTS of water; most of my food is mostly the purest water (INTRACELLULAR water, actively filtered with the intelligence of the cell wall of a living organism). Since mid '96 I've been testing "hunger" by attempting to satisfy it with water (if it's satisfied, then it was "thirst", not "hunger". What animal besides me could possibly live half a century before learning the difference between "thirst" & "hunger"? Stupid!! :-) Presently, it averages to about 2-3 oz./day distilled water, generally between 9 AM - noon, generally no food before 11 AM - 1 PM, simply due to no hunger 'til then. I suspect Bruno's right, that spring water's more of an "original food" than distilled & he recommends buy a VARIETY from different sources, store 'em in 50 or so glass jugs & periodically smell taste 'em & drink those that smell good 'til the "swallow stop" -- if someone DOES all that, please report. Fascinating!

[Hoping to regain my vegan ways]--As long as I believe my instincts work & as long as the RAF continues to taste delicious, the emotional/ethical vegan arguments have little effect on my behavior AND if I believed my instincts were not my best guide to food selection OR if the RAF quit tasting delectable, I WOULD be more comfortable NOT harming animals to 'eat their parts, even if it's a great honor for them to become part of this superior human. ;-)

[If the choice is between eating frozen durian vs. NO durian?]--A year or so ago, Darlin' Deborah brought me a frozen durian bigger than a football. MY decision: I ate the whole damn thing. Sure, PART of my decision was based on the source (I'd eat ANYTHING Deborah would bring to me -- I would not BUY anything frozen), but here's how I justified/rationalized that decision (afterwards): 1--Freezing breaks cell walls by puncture with the ice crystals, releasing the contents to mix & mingle with the contents of other cells, altering the chemical composition enough to evade the body's ability to produce a "stop" signal but apparently NOT enough to create many toxic molecules (no, I don't know how this was determined nor if it's true) & 2--Since I'd never eaten a durian, I figured there couldn't be many nutrients in there my body could already be saturated with & therefore it was very unlikely I'd get a stop at all on a FRESH durian, especially given the stories from hi quantity durian eaters like Kirt (of whom I'd never heard when I made the decision). Make any sense?

[Cassia as food or drug -- a digression to the "therapy mindset"?]--The Instinctos "admit" they're using cassia as their ONE drug, saying "it enhances elimination". I don't. Cassia, as well as herbs, (phytopharmacology), are FOOD, specifically "micro-nutrients". They ARE original foods & the bod DOES give strong stops when eating them, so why should they be considered therapy just 'cause the bod might react to them by speeding up elimination of toxins? Doesn't the body react similar to prunes & other foods we don't consider as "therapy". Just 'cause the body gives a stop on very small amounts don' mean it ain't food!? However, I still haven't figured how to justify my present Zapper experiment as ANYTHING but therapy, dammit!

[Jaffe nuts good enough?]--I hope so, 'cause I'm still eatin' 'em, 'tho MUCH less than I usta. Why? 1--Bruno taste tested 'em when he visited us last year & sez they've been heated. 2--The stops are too erratic to be real (just subjective opinion). 3--They're too clean, obviously washed thoroughly, probly by machine & when they're wet, they'd likely sprout mold or something if allowed to dry at a cool temperature, so I BET they're heated quite a bit, despite Alan Jaffee's written statement to me that they're not. Hope I'm wrong[Grains are Instincto quality?]--Probly not, depends on how they were grown. If they were fertilized with cooked fertilizers (about the only kind used commercially?) the Malliard Molecules in the fertilizers are sucked into the plants & passed on to the eaters. Even the seeds we sprout ourselves are probly lower than Instincto quality, as is probly most of the "organic" produce we buy & I'm told it takes something like seven YEARS of growing/harvesting on Instincto quality soil before the produce is Instincto quality - part of the reason Orkos prices are so hi; hence my guess at "0% Instincto quality" on my own food intake. Not happy news, eh? QUESTION 4 Y'ALL: Solutions, anyone? Any known sources? Any news on ESTABLISHING sources?

Going beyond the instincts--Several have commented, implying instincts don't work 'cause we gotta go beyond instincts (eg. wild animals journeying for miles to find the right dirt to eat, etc.). Sure, we gotta use conscious rational decisions to determine WHICH substances are natural, likely somewhat "original" foods to test with smell/taste, otherwise we be "instinctively" testing Twinkies & DingDongs, BarleyGreen & SBGA. AND, once we've decided WHICH substances to test, our conscious minds are relatively useless in guiding us to precisely which foods are needed at which precise times & in what quantity. At THAT point, all the nutrition, biochem, physio books on the planet are not helpful. At that point, it's the billions-of-year-old wisdom of the individual cell we must hear.

[Instincts involve way more than smelling & tasting food]--You bet! Is your reasoning something like: "Since it's ludicrous to delegate cognitive processes to instinct, then let's delegate NOTHING to instinct?" As cognitive beings, we make a CONSCIOUS decision about which mental functions to delegate to instinct. I chose to delegate food selection, sleep & exercise time & amount, to instinct, I DON'T chose to delegate to instinct the decision to grow my own food of buy it from others.

[Death is 100% tolerance]--YESSS!! Beautifully stated, as is everything you write.

[Raw-only restricts your diet. Had any rhubarb lately?]--Raw onions & rhubarb are NOT restricted from my diet. I eat them in huge quantities whenever they smell/taste delicious! And yes, locating sources of Instincto-quality animal products is VERY difficult; I've not even found Instincto-quality PLANT food sources. :-(

[Herbs--Do we need non-foods?]--I considered herbs same as "medicines" (= non-foods) for my first 5 years in NH, 'til discovering that Instinctive Nutrition IS the nutrition part of NH, so herbs become like any other "potential food" (as long as uncooked, un-altered,e tc.); just smell/taste test & bod will tell us if it's a needed food NOW or a non-food! Real slick ... but takes a new context of thinking.

END

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