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Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.
(Swedish proverb)
Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty.
(Sicilian proverb)
Your friend is that man who knows all about you, and still likes you.
(Elbert Hubbard)
You can always tell a real friend; when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job.
(Laurence J. Peter)
Friends are family you choose for yourself.

2010
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10 August 2010
I was reflecting the other day on the topic of perfect raw vegans. In particular, on their non-existence. Not long ago, when I surveyed one forum about long-time 100% raw vegans, I soon realized that they may well not exist. Often those who claim to be 100% raw, eat nuts or dried fruit that have been processed by heat, take supplements that do not grow on trees, or worse, inject their bodies with them. Those who claim to be vegan, eat seaweed, honey, figs with wasps, dates with bugs in them, kill fruit flies with vinegar, have carnivorous pets, live off the non-vegan society or use various non-vegan non-food products. The statistics are pretty poor, if you compare the Earth population to the raw vegan population, even if you consider those who are close to 100% raw. When one starts insisting on the perfect esthetics as well, then the numbers get even less significant. Breast implants (not vegan), bleached hair, heavy makeup, wrinkles, grey hair, there is always a fault to be found and so it is found, on the many various posts focusing on looks on various forums. Are the expectations a little bit too high perhaps? Take aside the unrealistic demands for perfectionism, look at the real less-than-perfect people, and you will find countless amazing stories of people who healed their bodies, look absolutely stunning and sexy, and enjoy their lives. These people are a beautiful inspiration, so do not ever tell me that they are not good enough. If you are unable to accept the others, perhaps it is because you are unable to accept yourself? Why not give yourself some tender loving?


I perfectly like what Raw Aussie Athlete says:

Natural hygiene and the 811rv lifestyle merely defines a target (of ideals). The target isn't the goal. In fact the target is impossible to reach as our lives are filled with conflicting goals (like getting enough sleep v's losing sleep to nurture a sick child) and essentially unavoidable compromises (like stress and global air/water pollution). Expectations of reaching a goal of ideals can only result in disappointment and predictable failure. The good news is that the target defined by the ideals of natural hygiene and 811rv define the direction to aim. With these ideals to guide us, we can aim all of our arrows at the target, never straying far from the bulls-eye, not being distracted by other targets and living the optimal life we seek.

 27 August 2010
Sharing my insights on the topic of idealism versus reality on the fruit-based diet:


Would you mind if I share my thoughts on this?

In my 7-year-long "career" on raw food forums, I have seen stories similar to yours many times. Yet I do not question the validity of the fruit-based low-fat diet. Why is this so? Two reasons.

One, I have performed a good amount of personal experiments and having the benefit of possessing a considerable sensitivity to the body signals which I developed after some years since going raw, I have personally confirmed the various negative consequences of eating non-raw-vegan foods, grains or animal products as examples, which closely mirror all the various findings that are reported in the raw vegan literature. Consuming meat for example, is sure to produce an incredibly stinky odor of my body accompanied by an overwhelming feeling of toxicity. Consuming grains is sure to make my intestines feel irritatingly uncomfortable, the tummy bloated and the face puffy. Etc.

Two, a common feature I observed in the various stories reporting any problems with fruit-based diet is following the mind-derived patterns instead of listening to one's body. For example, one might eat a specified amount of calories because they decided to do so, instead of following their hunger, resulting in over or under-eating. Or, one might eat a particular group of foods because of an intellectual decision, instead of following the true hunger for the foods that the body wants them to eat at any given moment. Or, one might eat fruit without even using their taste to make sure that the fruit is ripe (this will result in lack of nutrition and also damage the teeth). Often people follow other people's advice because those other people have a strong persuasive persona, and in doing so adopt various dietary or exercise patterns based on what others say, instead of on what their own body needs. So in my view the underlying cause of those various problems is not the fruit-based diet, but its separated from the needs of the body application.

So I believe that striving for raw veganism as the target diet is a useful approach, but following raw veganism at the cost of ignoring the body is not.

I hope this is useful in some way to your personal experience.



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