Tom Billings: dietary failures

     Tom Billings, [TB] a principle author of beyondveg.com, who by-the-way stole that title from one of my articles without permission several years ago, has a rather interesting cyclic history of personal "failures". 
     He failed at fruitarianism, so he concludes that fruitarianism can not work.  
     He failed at a raw diet, so he concludes that raw diets can not work. 
     He conveniently ignores the inescapable fact that our species, as did every one of countless hundreds of millions of species of Life on this planet, evolved on a totally raw diet. 
     He failed at a vegan diet, so he concludes that vegan diets can not work.
     The beyondveg website also advocates the human consumption of raw flesh by presenting a long exposition of pseudoscience about the "Paleo Diet".
     TB also uniformly fails to consider the quality issue -- that modern produce is highly deficient in minerals and essential nutrients as a result of contemporary, chemical/petrochemical-based, mutant-monoculture, mega-agriculture.  He ignores the fact that our closest genetic relative, the chimp, in addition to eating fruit as the preferred food, also includes leaves and nuts/seeds in its diet, and the strong possibility that these may supply some nutrients missing or limited in fruits.  He ignores the fact that commercial fruits and vegetables simply do not exist in Nature, and that they have been genetically-manipulated for hundreds, to thousands (mango), of years to support economic, certainly not nutritional goals.  He ignores the obvious fact that humans are Tropical apes and should not be living in temperatures less than the mid 80'sF and the thermal stress that this creates.  
     He conveniently redefines common words: "Fruitarianism" being "75% or more (by weight) raw fruit". 

     He presents several web pages titled Dietary Problems in the Real World  which purport to be "Bios of vegetarians, ex-vegetarians, and others in search of health, not dogma..."  
     In summary, these biographies provide excellent insight on how not to approach any raw diet, especially fruitarianism, the common causes of these "failures" being:
     ignorance of chemistry/biochemistry, thus totally ignoring the chemistry involved in proper diet,
     ignoring the quantity of nutrients eaten,
     ignoring the quality of nutrients eaten,
     ignoring serious signs of malnutrition,
     ignorance of the dynamics of dietary change,
     not understanding that ego reduction is necessary to support any major change in diet,
     not trying to determine the cause(s) of specific symptom(s) of malnutrition and then
      removing the cause by intelligently adjusting the diet to correct nutritional deficiencies,
     and, in direct contradiction to the alleged "search of health, not dogma...", taking a rigid, dogmatic, misologic approach to diet based on mindless faith and copying some incompetent's advice or dietary system, as contrasted to an intelligent approach to diet in an experimental/experiential mode, the method of which being to dynamically tune the diet for optimum health.

     The following critique follows the structure of the web pages, starting with Tom Billings, principal failure.  Note: text in default font are direct quotes from the referenced web page.

Introduction

     TB:  I am a long-time raw-food vegetarian, and have (at different times) followed many of the common raw vegetarian diets: fruitarian, natural hygiene-style, living foods.  My current diet is lacto-vegetarian (includes some raw dairy), 75-90% raw.

     TB:  My approach to raw foods is one of realism, moderation, common sense, sanity, honesty, and staying open to new information
     Notice, no mention of biochemistry, science, logical empiricism, Nature, our evolutionary diet, or experientially tuning one's diet for optimum health.
     "... realism, moderation, common sense, sanity, honesty, and staying open to new information", however, simply does not relate to biochemistry; and nutritional biochemistry can not be properly addressed, analyzed, or even discussed meaningfully with these absolutely irrelevant, completely nonscientific conceptual abstracts.  
     This is the most common failure of both lay people and "professionals" alike who try to discuss diet (i.e. nutritional biochemistry) with non-biochemical, indefinable, untestable concepts; it can not be done!  This widespread abandonment of biochemistry is the core reason for all the senseless nutribabble endlessly circulating through contemporary alternate diet forums, books, lectures, etc.  Not being based on chemistry, all this talk is completely meaningless, misleading, and ultimately dangerous!

     TB:  Once you actively think for yourself on these issues, you will begin to realize that the extremists want to sell you a simplistic, logically invalid philosophy, a philosophy that is based on a false model of nature.
     Curiously, TB frequently manifests a projection of his own failures on others; his own overly simplistic, illogical, and false concepts regarding Nature and human diet will be revealed and analyzed in this critique.

     TB:  My other interests include ... Ayurveda, the traditional medical/wellness system of India.
     Here is the first insight into TB's conspicuously illogical, anti-scientific belief system.  
     Medical systems of any local culture are developed only by a society that perceives a need for medical systems, and that need is based on the fact that the culture does not teach its adherents how to live in a healthy manner; that is, the members of the culture commonly experience "disease".  If the local society were living in a healthy manner, it would never develop "medical systems" because every person would be as healthy as all the other animals on the planet; and thus not "need" a "medical system".  Medical systems are based on the consumption of toxic substances: originally toxic herbs/plants (herbology), then inorganic poisons (homeopathy), and, most recently, toxic synthetic organic chemicals (allopathy).  Medical systems, with the sole exception of some forms of naturopathy, try to mask/eliminate/drug away 'symptoms' rather than try to discover the cause for the symptoms (faulty lifestyle) and eliminate the cause.

The Fruitarian Experience: 1970-1980

     The first "failure" is "Tom Billings: 30 years of transitions: from fruitarian to living foods to lacto-vegetarian.  Computer consultant, yoga teacher, and San Francisco LiFE [a raw foods group] organizer."  "His career has included work in software/systems engineering, plus marketing research and statistical consulting, with a B.S. in mathematics, an M.A. in economics and an M.S. in mathematical statistics."
     NOTE: his writing suggests he is totally lacking in the fundamental sciences, such as chemistry and physics, but rather the emphases is always on abstract, non-physical concepts (e.g. fruitarian diet) that can not be explored with the scientific method; this, in the sense of science being: knowledge, or a system of knowledge, covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method and/or such knowledge or such a system of knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena.  Thus, his "analysis" of, or talking about, human nutrition and diet is fatally flawed from the outset because it is not based on testable, measurable amounts of specific nutrients.
     TB has reduced complex human biochemistry, that encompasses hundreds of nutrients and enzymes, to a hollow exercise in creative writing that can not be supported with facts or logic; even though he claims to eschew dogma, he wallows in it, repeatedly, to the detriment of his own health.  Many examples will be given.

     His initial attempt at this modified "fruitarian" diet was while he was living in Florida and he:
     TB: ... had year-round access to a wide variety of locally grown fruit (most unsprayed, some organic), including a wide variety of citrus, mangos, avocados, as well as "minor" fruits: papayas, bananas, carambolas, lychees, longans, coconuts, tamarind, and other exotics.  I was living in near-ideal circumstances to practice fruitarianism.
     Really??  "Near-ideal" circumstances and food supply??  Absolutely NOT!
     I live in south Florida and there is simply NO soil here; the southern tip of Florida is porous oolite limestone rock, thinly covered by sterile sand!
     In fact, the preparation of the oolite rock for planting the original orchards was to use dynamite to blast individual holes into which the young trees were planted.  Again, and of critical importance, there is NO healthy SOIL here containing the necessary compliment of minerals, microorganisms, or health-supporting soil fauna; just sterile sand and porous oolite rock.  Clearly, ANYthing grown here is severely deficient in trace minerals and other nutrients.  Thus, Florida produce is essentially grown hydroponically, withOUT the necessary nutrients supplied in the irrigation water, as is done in real hydroponics!!
     NOTE: TB consistently ignores the QUALITY of "food" issue; in spite of the fact that poor food quality is the most serious crises facing people today.

     TB:  The writings of Arnold Ehret, the major influence on me during this period, teach fruitarianism, but the approach is a negative and foolish one (something that took many years for me to realize).
     Interesting insights into TB's intellectual process:
     he does not elucidate his claims or support them with facts or logic, and
     it took him "many years" to detect this alleged foolishness.  It would seem that foolishness would be readily apparent to a functioning intellect.

     He misinterprets Arnold Ehret's writing by claiming that:
     TB:  Ehret taught ... "mucus," ... is claimed to be the root cause of all disease.  
     Wrong, Ehret taught that excess mucus and excessive consumption of 'mucus-forming foods' was the culprit.  Here, TB exhibits a fundamental problem with reading comprehension.
     Mucus is made by the body in the amounts that it needs - it is absolutely necessary to support animal life.  It is the pathological storage of excess mucus and toxins created by conventional meat/dairy/grain-oriented cultural diets that Ehret was struggling against with his personal medical problem: albuminuria (mucus in the urine).  Ehret, after the local medical system had failed to relieve his condition, started experimenting with his diet and discovered that certain "foods" produced excessive mucus, and certain other "foods" did not.  Ehret's book: Mucusless Diet Healing System was the result of his personal experiments and is anecdotal, not scientific.  Ehret was a high school teacher and had no understanding of biochemistry when he wrote and lectured in the early 1920's, so he used his own made-up terminology and nonscientific observations to describe his dietary experiments and observations.  Ehret was a genius in his time.

     TB:  Ehret's approach is unscientific
      So what, Ehret never claimed that it was scientific; Ehret had the courage to change his diet, make observations, and try to present his findings to a sick public in his own way.  TB's approach is also "unscientific"; he presents no data, he measured nothing, and he ignores scientific fact.

     TB:  ... however this sort of misinformation (mucus) is still being taught today.
      Typical of TB's own totally unscientific approach, this statement is meaningless.  He claims that "mucus" is "misinformation", yet mucus definitely exists - one definition being: The free slime of the mucous membranes, composed of secretion of the glands, along with various inorganic salts, desquamated cells and leukocytes.  Again, TB overlooks the profound difference between mucus and the excessive amounts of mucus produced by eating cultural diets.

     TB goes on to ridicule Ehret's concept of mucus-forming foods, which anyone can validity by personal experience.

     TB:  My initial experience (1972 through early 1973) with 100% raw fruitarianism, after I got past the first major cleansing stages, was very positive indeed: my physical health improved, the need for sleep decreased, I had lots of energy (some of the time), and I had a pleasant "light" or "euphoric" mental feeling that I thought was a spiritual feeling at the time.
      At least he seems to be aware that certain "major cleansing stages" were necessary, many people are not and falsely conclude that they 'got sick' on a clean diet.  Unfortunately he does not reveal his previous health problems which "improved".

     TB:  However, there were trouble signs, even in 1972--emaciation, constant hunger, frequent weakness, and intermittent fatigue.
      Here are the first signs of serious nutritional deficiency(ies?), but is the cause sought out and eliminated??  No!
      "Emaciation" implies a serious protein deficiency and the loss of lean muscle.  Since most raw fooders do not experience hunger, and certainly not 'constant hunger', and Shelton claims that true hunger is the body's signal that some nutrient is depleted and is felt for a specific food, could this "constant hunger" and his overpowering "cravings" be natural signals that he was starving to death?
     Were these symptoms really the result of rigidly eating a commercial fruit diet of very poor quality?

     TB:  I went on a 4-day water fast.   The results were disastrous: my "light" mental feeling disappeared, my strength vanished and I was weak and fatigued, and my weight dropped to the life-threatening level of 88 pounds (40 kg; I am 6'1" = 185 cm tall).
     So, are we to blame "fruitarianism" for an ill-advised FAST?
     For the first time: numbers!  Clearly, this height/weight represents extreme malnourishment, and certainly should be motivation to discover what the deficiencies are.  But, TB never considers the quantities of nutrients consumed, so is oblivious to the fact that he is starving himself by rigidly following a poor diet that presents unmistakable clinical signs of failure and imminent danger.

     TB:  I was convinced then that fruit was the "ideal food, and one true diet"--and my foolish belief in the fruitarian "party line" nearly killed me.
     Here, he boldly admits that he was following a "foolish belief", and reveals his total lack of application of intelligence to his experience in not even trying to determine what nutrients(s) were insufficient and then adjusting his diet accordingly.  Note that this is in direct opposite of the "... realism, moderation, common sense, sanity, honesty, and staying open to new information" as claimed, above.  Note, this "foolish belief" "nearly killed me".  He was so emotionally committed to attaining an impossible goal that he almost starved himself to death.  Clearly, the intellect was not functioning well at the time.

     TB:  ... extremely emaciated (as many rawists/fruitarians are)
     Yet how does one measure "extremely emaciated"??  Since all other species of animal on this planet evolved on and eat a totally raw diet, and they certainly are NOT "emaciated" in the slightest, again the problem is caused by the nutritional inadequacies of COMMERCIAL produce, and TB's specific choices in diet.  Notice, again, he projects his own personal failure and condition onto others.

     TB:  I initially resisted, making (and firmly believing) the false (and unscientific) argument that all protein foods, including sprouts, create mucus, hence are toxic
      Again, we are faced with the total lack of meaning produced by the use of vague, non-quantitative words, and TB's impressive capability to misinterpret other people's concepts.  
     What is a "protein food"?  We have no idea.  The body needs protein, but how much?  Human adults require ~1/3% pro in their average diet.  Problems are produced either when too much, or too little, protein is consumed, the quantitative aspect, and especially if animal protein is consumed, the qualitative aspect.  So, again, TB demonstrates that he simply does not understand the chemical issues involved as he continually ignores both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the situation.  He finds it easier to understand simple, dogmatic concepts, like "eat only fruit", than doing all that imperative chemical thinking, and this was much to his physical/psychological detriment and the reason that his writings are not based on fact or logic.

     TB:  I added [short] raw lentil sprouts ... to my diet, and I quickly started to gain weight and recover from my starved condition.
     This suggests that the ~9% pro in lentil sprouts (shorter sprouting time would produce an even more concentrated protein) may have solved his severe protein deficit problem, and maybe he also picked up some cho, fats and/or trace minerals missing in the local commercial fruit.

     TB:  I included lentil sprouts in my diet for some months--until the end of 1973 (or so). Even when eating sprouts, my diet was still 75+% raw fruit over the longer-term. My weight returned to what was "normal" during the period: around 115 pounds (~52 kg).
      This weight would be about average for a healthy raw-fooder, certainly more healthy than when he was 27 pounds lighter.

     TB:  Sprouts seemed to help me, but they cannot compare in taste to fresh, never-shipped mangos (the mangos in supermarkets are a poor imitation of fresh mangos).
      Again the quality issue.  Sprouted seeds are certainly not a natural food item for our species; they can be a useful trick, perhaps, but the reason they do not taste good is that there are toxins and anti-nutrients in seeds that prevent animals from eating or digesting them, or they have other chemical protection from the animal world.  Similarly, most leaves are repulsive, and fruit is generally the only pleasant-tasting food.  The body of the plant, including roots, stalks leaves and the important reproductive seeds, generally have toxic chemical protection that supports the survival of the plant species.  Fruit is the only plant part that is 'intentionally' put our there for animal food, this in exchange for the propagation of the seeds, and thus the species, by animals.

     After claiming lentil sprouts "literally saved my life"...
     TB:  After my body weight normalized, I slowly reduced the amount of sprouts in my diet, and they were eaten only rarely during the remaining years of this period (i.e., 1974-1980).
     Does this mean TB did not learn anything from his previous self-induced-by-ignorance starvation experience??  So, he had recovered from this "crash" and next he dives back into the obviously failed fruitarian diet...

1973-1978:

     TB:  After fully recovering from the crash, I experienced a period of about 2 years when the diet seemed to work well for me, at least most of the time.  During this period, cravings were not a problem (in retrospect, I was probably overeating both sweet fruit and avocados in the period).  I refer to this period as a "honeymoon" on the diet.  Not only did the diet work, but I achieved the "holy grail" of fruitarianism: I was on 100% raw fruit for around 2 years. This is a goal that many fruitarians talk about, but very few achieve
      Once again, referring to diet with theatrical concepts like "honeymoon", "holy grail", "goal", and "achieve" emphasize TB's approach to diet is that of rigidly following totally irrational dogma, based on groundless emotions and mythical quests, and now even yielding his health to a dogma that he had personally experienced to be impossible to "achieve" and life-threatening under his circumstances of poor quality fruit!  There is clearly no intellect involved, here.

     TB:  I was on 100% raw fruit for around 2 years.  I was frequently weak--followed by periods of hyperactivity--during this period.  This is the classic pattern of excess sugar consumption: sugar highs, followed by sugar blues--which is why I say that I was probably consuming excess sweet fruit during this period.
     Again, any problems were not associated with a healthy, mineral-rich fruit diet, without excess.

     TB:  I was probably consuming excess sweet fruit during this period.
     Perhaps exacerbated by an inherent problem with sugar metabolism, too?

     TB: my work took me overseas to a cold-climate location, where fresh fruit was expensive and of poor quality. (I was overseas about 20-25% of the time in the 1973-1978 period.) On one trip, I lived on a mono-diet of mandarin oranges for one month.
     A monodiet of citrus is particularly foolish; citrus contains lots of free acids, and they dissolve the calcium right out of teeth.  Many fruit-diet experimenters have fallen victim to this error, myself included.  
     [If you don't believe that citrus and other acid fruits dissolve enamel out of your teeth on contact try this test.  Rub your teeth together; they will feel smooth.  Eat an orange section; rub, and they will feel rough, as calcium has been dissolved from the surface.  If one must eat citrus and pineapple, juice them and drink the juice with a straw trying to minimize contact of the juice with the teeth.]
     Here, TB ignores the obvious again: we are Tropical apes who should be in an environment ~ mid 80'sF; certainly, NOT be in a "cold-climate".  Obviously, trying to maintain a low-calorie tropical diet in the cold while the body is constantly losing heat is ridiculous; again, it's TB's personal failure in analytical skills and judgment, not fruitarianism's failure.

     I don't have any data for Mandarin Oranges, so let's look at Florida Oranges vs. lentil sprouts; 'short' sprouts would contain higher concentrations of nutrients.  Green cell background indicates higher concentrations of nutrients for the sprouts.

     So, we can readily see why TB "quickly started to gain weight and recover from my starved condition", as the sprouts provided many times more of essential nutrients than oranges could; especially, 13 times as much protein!  Clearly, the wasting of lean muscle mass and the weight dropping to 88 pounds were indications of severe protein deficiency.

     TB:  On one stressful, cold winter trip (at the end of the honeymoon period), the heat was not working in the place we were staying; consequently I had to freeze (and nearly starve) for 3 weeks.
     Again, TB's poor judgement and self-induced stress, both thermal and nutritional, were responsible for creating his problems.

     TB:  I returned to Florida, weighing only 95 pounds (43 kg)--my second crash
     So, he lost 20 pounds from his healthy weight and did not do anything about that along the way?  Note: he never tries to ascertain the reason for the weight loss and correct it.

     TB:  I was able to quickly regain weight by eating a diet that was mostly avocados,
     A monodiet being a poor choice.  He was focussing on regaining weight, but never nutritional sufficiency.  Most people recognize a need for a varied diet.

     TB:  ...cravings for sweet foods (even though my diet had sweet fruit as the dominant food type)
     An anomaly perhaps revealing an inherent problem with sugar metabolism.  Most people can eat fruit for a while, and then the body will clearly signal that enough sweet items have been eaten, after which a salad becomes attractive.  TB apparently does not have, or recognize, this type of inherent feedback signal.  Also, apparently Virginia Vetrano, Shelton's protégé, reports that protein starvation will cause cravings for sweets.  Note: TB never thinks about his protein source and amount (quality/quantity), even after suffering severe weight and lean muscle loss on a fruit diet, now repeatedly.

     TB:  I would occasionally eat candy for the sugar cravings, but preferred to eat dates (which were addictive).
     And he goes on to reveal other "addictions":

     TB:  one fruit that is even more addictive, and most raw vegans are addicted to it.  That fruit is: avocados!
     Perhaps his body was trying to replenish a severe fat deficit caused by his prior poor-quality fruit diet and stressful immersion in a cold climate?  Actually, "MOST (>50%?) raw vegans" are not "addicted" to avocados, but perhaps this is an insight into TB's addictive personality, both to irrational dogma and certain nutritionally-inadequate "foods"?? 
     Since avocados are essentially fiber-free, they do not stimulate peristalsis and thus tend to move through the system much slower than fibrous foods.  They also have a high fat content and thus do not digest quickly.  And they tend to produce gas.  All of these characteristics tend to produce a bloated, heavy feeling in the lower gut which TB may misinterpret as his coveted, but nutritionally-meaningless, "filling and satisfying".  So, again, TB may be exhibiting an addiction to a misinterpretation of signals that supports a nonsensical cultural dogma, rather than an understanding of proper nutrition.
     Ex-drug "addicts" and ex-alcoholics generally agree that it was not the chemical itself that was 'addictive', but rather that their personality and social circumstances were the true cause of the "addiction".  Obviously, IF drugs, themselves, were addictive, there would be no ex-drug "addicts".  Similarly, people can addict themselves pathologically to money, power, sex, work, religion, etc. ... while most people can interact with these social constructs in a reasonably healthy manner.  Again, the person, not the thing, is responsible for any negativity.

The Perils of Physical Purity

     TB:  On the fruitarian diet, your sense of smell is sharpened considerably.
     This is true, as any positive changes in the diet will result in some sharpening of the senses as the internal "noise" generated by a toxic body is reduced.  Ever TB-like, he then goes on to denigrate the obvious positive effect of such enhanced awareness.  The sense of smell is a protective and survival mechanism both to attract one to proper food, and repulse one from toxic chemicals (and people).

     TB:  When you step on a bus or train, you gag because of the smell of the people on board. You meet an attractive person who also seems attracted to you, but you cannot get near them because of the smell.
     Yep, meat-eaters stink!  The reason is that their cooked animal protein/fat is not digested properly and thus it putrefies in the intestines by the action of putrefactive bacteria that produce foul-smelling, toxic ptomaines, such as indole, skatole, putrescine, muscarine, neurine, ptomatropine, and cadaverine which then are absorbed into the body to disrupt healthy biochemistry.  My dietary experiments started in 1969 with eating nothing but brown rice for several days, and after the second day, when all the putrescent animal proteins were flushed out of the intestines, I was absolutely amazed that my feces did not have the common, offensive odor they did for the previous 3 decades, rather, they had the odor, color, and texture of brown rice.

     TB:  I had to get a cholera inoculation for my yellow "WHO" (World Health Organization) card.  I went to my doctor, and the nurse gave me the shot.  I immediately passed out, and broke out in a cold sweat.  The nurse panicked (she thought she had killed me), ...
     This toxic, systemic shock may have paved the way for further dietary "failure".

     TB:  During this period, I considered myself to be spiritual, but I was very socially isolated. Social isolation is a common and serious problem in rawism, as it is considered a "weird" diet. Because I was harassed a lot about my diet...
      This reveals TB's lack of understanding of the need to practice 'ego reduction' conjointly with any serious dietary change.  He was unable to deal with other people's ignorance and intolerance with things they do not understand.  Also, his obvious (to everyone but him) severe malnutrition indicated by his 88 pound bodyweight would invite commentary from others.

Phase-out of Fruitarianism: 1979-1980

     TB:  After years on the diet, I slowly started to lose interest in fruit, dietary purity, and concern for the "evil demons" of mucus and protein.
     This emphasizes TB's inherent lack of interest in, or comprehension of, the chemistry and nutritional aspects of raw diets, and his consistent failure to consider the quantitative and qualitative aspects of diet.  Severe health problems are associated with EXCESS protein consumption and EXCESS mucus production, not mucus or proteins themselves, both of which are absolutely necessary to sustain animal life.
     Again, his primitive, overly simplistic, mythological characterizations of mucus and proteins as "evil demons" shows his lack of scientific understanding of diet, nutrition, or chemistry at the most fundamental level.

     TB:  Cravings and hunger increased.
     Are these not signals that the same deficiency exists that he had previously created on a poor-quality fruit diet?  TB never seeks out the source of, or reasons for, these bodily signals.

     TB:  I was apathetic about being "pure."
      Again, TB's approach to diet was NOT scientific or rational, but as a mythical quest.

     TB:  I literally burned out from the powerful obsession with food that is required to be a 100% raw fruitarian.
     Here, TB admits that he has turned a simple, natural biological function, eating, into a "powerful obsession with food", thus indicating the psychopathology he has personally created surrounding this simple bodily function; a simple bodily function with which all the other millions of animal species have absolutely no problem.  He, again, projects his own personal failures onto others.  People can also turn other natural functions, such as sex, into obsessions too.
     One wonders if this "powerful obsession" would be manifest on a quality fruit diet?  Certainly, one is not obsessed with food if one is eating so as to be healthy.

Natural Hygiene-Style Diet: 1980-1989
Transition Period (end of 1980 to 1982)

     Next, his dietary shifts to ...
     TB:  After ending the fruitarian diet, I returned to a conventional cooked vegetarian diet.  It was lacto-vegetarian, ...  The foods that I ate passed through me and came out the other end looking just like they did when I ate them.
     This is incomprehensible, as are a lot of his vague musings; does this mean that he did not chew anything??  On the other hand, was he so deluded as to think that 'normal' digestion on a raw diet would produce the toxic, putrid, homogeneous, odoriferous, constipating fecal mass as experienced by the meat-eater?  As this putrefaction of excessive, animal protein is not possible on a raw plant-based diet, the identify of mono-meals will be preserved in the fecal mass; that is: mangos will produce mango feces, apples will produce apple feces, etc.

     TB:  This indicated a weak digestive fire
     Interesting -- there is no such thing, digestion is carried out at body temperature by enzymes, there is no "fire" involved.  His repeated attempt at reducing complex biochemical systems to nonsensical mythological folklore is another insight in to his total lack of intellectual functioning or application of science; there is no logic in his writing, just flights of imagination and mythology.  These nonsensical concepts, this one from Ayurveda, are readily accepted as fact by his nonfunctioning intellect.

     TB:  When one eats mostly fruit, it passes through the body quickly (without causing gas or readily apparent digestive upset), with, however, little change when it comes out as feces.
     However, the lack of "gas or readily apparent digestive upset" should be understood as a healthy process -- as it should be -- the nutrients are within the cells of the plant material and when food is properly digested it should leave the remaining cellulose/fiber intact and identifiable as to source.
     The only time feces will be significantly different from the "food" is when that "food" is NOT digested properly and then the residues support the proliferation of putrefactive bacteria which significantly affect the chemistry/appearance of the feces.  For example, the toxic amines, foul odors, and hardened, constipating masses of feces in the meat-eater are evidence of putrefaction and constipation, NOT proper digestion.
     Herein, TB exhibits a profound lack of understanding of digestion.

Return to Raw (1982-1989)

     TB:  After being on cooked food for a while, I returned to eating raw foods.  I still considered myself a fruitarian then, but nowadays I consider my diet in the period as being closer to natural hygiene in style.
     Again, the problem of obfuscated terminology: fruitarianism is fruitarianism; Natural Hygiene, with fruit, vegs, and nuts/seeds is very different, chemically.  TB NEVER mentions the chemistry of "foods" in a quantitative way, and never mentions any specific nutrient, so he conveys no meaningful information!  This emphasizes the fact that popular nutribabble, which also ignores both specific nutrients and quantities of them, is totally meaningless.

     TB:  I would alternate--months on raw, then months on cooked, then back to raw, and so on.
     Thus, no meaningful information can be drawn from such yo-yo dieting, as the body never gets close to an equilibrium state on any one diet.

     TB:  ... one could say that idealism had a strong grip on me, specifically the simplistic, yet seductive (and false) idea that fruit is the perfect food, and will guarantee perfect health.
     This emphasizes a continuing obsession with dogma and false concepts, rather than an ability to learn from personal experience; this is a prevalent theme throughout TB's writings.  There is a difference between "idealism" and delusion, apparently lost on TB.  Again, there is no indication of a functioning intellect.

     TB:  I would go on raw to enhance my health, then go off it when cravings became a problem. (My primary problem, when raw in this period, was cravings.)
      Now he is saying that raw food enhanced his health, and cooked food reduced cravings but the health declined?  He does not consider that the "cravings" were signals of malnutrition.

     TB:  My primary problem, when raw in this period, was cravings.
     Cravings for what??

     TB:  ... found that a more diverse raw diet that included short sprouts--the root shoot of the sprout is about the length of the soaked seed--worked much better for me (such sprouts are filling and satisfying, helping reduce cravings)
     Such sprouts are also a source of concentrated protein (see table, above) perhaps helping him recover from possible protein-starvation resulting from his other dangerous experiments, or is TB revealing the common psychological obsession with the feeling of "being full"; is that what his "cravings" are, in reality?  (Avocados create this "fullness" because they are fatty, do not digest quickly, and tend to produce gas.)  Culture conditions us to "eat to get full", yet successful raw fooders quickly discover that the old, familiar "full feelings" are symptoms of undigested cultural "foods", or indigestible combinations, laying in the stomach, and after some retraining of expectations come to favor the light, empty, energetic feeling after eating raw meals.

Generic Raw Vegan: 1990-1996

     TB:  I slowly increased the percentage of sprouts (and green vegetables) in my diet and decreased the percentage of fruit.  This type of diet was easier to follow and more satisfying than the preceding diets.
     Did the sprouts and greens bring in protein and trace minerals deficient in his commercial fruit diet?  Probably, but TB always ignores specific nutrients in favor of the simplistic concept: diet.  This is the glaring error in all his dietary "expertise".  Did the "more satisfying" mean that his nutrient deficiencies were being resolved by addition of sprouts and greens, and that also resulted in reduction/elimination of the mysterious "cravings"?

     TB:  I got addicted to dates again--an addiction that lasted nearly a year.  (I ate approximately 1 pound or 0.5 kg per day.)  Sugar was a real problem for me--probably a legacy of my many years on sweet fruit, i.e., the fruitarian years.
     Perhaps indicative of inherent sugar metabolism problems?  Most raw fooders do not develop such extreme behaviors.  People can "addict" themselves to all sorts of things: drugs, sex, work, religion, money, power, irrational beliefs, crackpot diets, etc...  The error lies in the person, not the thing or activity.

     TB:  In 1994, chronic health problems developed, and I turned to yoga and Ayurveda, the traditional medical/wellness system of India, for help.
     What "chronic health problems"?  As usual, the lack of meaningful details prevents meaningful analysis.  Ayurveda can not solve any health problems because it is based on ancient superstition and folklore, and like TB it is totally ignorant of biochemistry and nutrition.

     TB:  A blood test done in late December 1994 showed a serious deficiency of vitamin B-12
     This obliviously was not discovered by Ayurveda or yoga.  Could this be a reason for his extreme behaviors, irrationality, and obsessive ideation and behavior?  Could this have caused long term damage to the central nervous system that is reflected to this day in his irrational writings?

     TB:  I now use vitamin B-12 supplements
      Notice, the first mention of a specific nutrient in his whole dietary diatribe!!

     TB: I also dis-associated myself from Swami Kailashananda (the raw foods yogi), as his behavior over a long period led me to the inescapable view/opinion that he was thoroughly corrupt.
     Why would it take a "long period" to make this simple observation??

     TB:  I got into Ayurveda
     This is where his fantasy of "digestive fire" comes from.  TB seems to compulsively and repeatedly fall into other people's dogma with unquestioning faith, even though his personal experience repeatedly demonstrates that such an anti-intellectual approach produces severe problems. 
     It should be obvious that Ayurveda, like ALL other medical systems, came from a culture that did not know how to live in a healthy manner, for if the local culture provided a healthy human experience there would never be any "medical system" developed by it.  Thus, all "medical systems" were developed by ignorant, sick cultures and obviously can not produce health.  Worse, "traditional" systems were developed before anything was known about biochemistry, thus they are nonsensical, and based on the "folk wisdom" of quite ignorant ancient folks.  This is the reason to avoid "traditional diets" and "traditional medical systems".

     TB:  In 1996, under the influence of writers and friends in the yoga and Ayurveda communities, I started experimenting with raw dairy in my diet.
      Notice; he was "under the influence" of people; this is an emotional concept.  There is NO mention of any facts or logic that support human consumption of raw dairy; there is none.  The concept came from a culture that considers cows to be sacred; the same culture that has deforested itself to produce widespread starvation by both cooking and allowing cattle to strip the land of its greenery to produce a desert.

The Current Phase: Lacto-Vegetarian, 75-90% Raw

     TB:  My current diet is 75-90% raw and includes some dairy--mostly raw milk or yogurt
     Obviously, raw dairy is not a part of our evolutionary diet and the rest of the apes seem to do very well without it.  Does he really think he was suffering from a dairy deficiency, all those years??
     Note, also, that yogurt is used.  Yogurt is putrefying milk that is intentionally infected with bacteria.  The reason it is used traditionally, in cultures ignorant of biochemistry, is that it is well recognized that cow milk can not be digested properly by the human, so cow milk is allowed to putrefy somewhat so the bacteria can break down some of the more complex, indigestible proteins.

     TB:  My diet includes sprouts, nuts, avocados, raw vegetables, fruits, dairy, and other foods (raw honey, etc.)  vitamin B-12 supplements
     Thus, eliminating his apparent previous protein, mineral, cho, fat, and B-12 deficiencies experienced as a commercial fruitarian.  Then, ignoring that the current diet is obviously far, far superior to his repeatedly-failed commercial fruitarianism experiments, he claims that dairy, alone, is responsible for his improvements.

     TB:  Effectively eliminated physical cravings; milk and yogurt are comfort foods and anti-craving  Increased sense of well-being; in other words, I feel better
     Yes, indeed, dairy contains casein, a source of (really) addictive opioid residues that will, opium-like, be felt as a "comfort food".  Perhaps the folklore about a glass of warm milk inducing sleep is a result of these opioid residues.  So, apparently he has traded one set of psychological addictions for a chemical addiction; however, is this progress?  See Opioid Residue section.  He may also feel stimulated by the bovine growth hormones in dairy.  Search www.notmilk.com for 'hormone'.

     TB:  and also helped balance me, in Ayurvedic terms
      There is no such thing as balance when referring to complex, dynamic systems.  This term is another piece of meaningless, nonscientific folklore, and the concepts propagated by people who use it incorrectly should be avoided or scrutinized very thoroughly.  In fact, the word can be a good quack detector, for the people who use this word in reference to complex, dynamic systems are revealing a conceptual laziness and fundamental lack of intellectual ability.

     TB:  There is another benefit of using dairy: it helped free me from the negative mindset of vegan anti-dairy propaganda.
      Let's see, he has freed himself from the "negative mindset of vegan anti-dairy propaganda" and has now accepted the "positive mindset of the pro-dairy propaganda", perhaps?  Again, by abandoning science and intellectual analysis, TB is hopelessly lost in a maze of nonsensical propaganda, endlessly bouncing from one set of nonsensical concepts to another.

     TB:  Increased hydration (many raw vegans are dehydrated--I was, before adding dairy to my diet).
     This is an intriguing concept; however, as it is not defined, it is incomprehensible.  If one is urinating regularly, how can one possibly be "dehydrated"?  Clearly, raw fooders are consuming lots (80-90+%) of water with every meal, and plant-eating animals are most certainly not drying out.
     Probably, adding dairy has caused some palpable bloating, mucus storage, and fattening, but this should not be interpreted as either healthy or related to "hydration".  Again, "adding dairy" solved the problem, not his significantly improved diet as a whole.

     TB:  Finally, I could appreciate the gentle nature of Mother cow, and her generosity in sharing her milk with us.
     There is no Nature in cows and no cows in Nature; they are a grotesque genetic mutant, created by humans to be exploited by humans for economic purposes.  
     "Generosity in sharing"??  Nope, this animal is abused by being kept pregnant continually, being bred specifically to produce huge udders and unhealthy amounts of milk, and would not voluntarily associate with humans if it were a natural species.  Natural animals, wisely, avoid humans.  This romantic notion of willful "generosity in sharing" is clear evidence of TB's own behavior as "extremists (who) want to sell you a simplistic, logically invalid philosophy, a philosophy that is based on a false model of nature".  Animals simply do not walk up to humans and offer to share their milk or body with humans.

     TB:  P.S. Pardon the sarcasm, but it would not surprise me if the preceding remarks motivate some "compassionate" vegans to send me "compassionate" hate mail.
      Here's that projection of his own faults onto others again.  TB is well known to send people who rationally disagree with his mindless dogma in public forums personal "hate mail".  He has done so to me and others that have e-mailed me.

     TB:  My current diet includes about 10-25% cooked foods: mostly steamed vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, string beans.  Lately I have been eating some rice, in the form of khitcharee, a mixture of basmati rice and split mung beans, mildly spiced, that is very easy to digest.
      Strange, he thinks his fruit did not digest, but he also believes that a concentrated starch/concentrated protein mixture would digest properly.  Here, TB reveals his ignorance of Shelton's food combining for optimum digestion concept, which can be validified by personal experience.  If he also ate poor combinations during his failed fruitarian experiments, this could also be a cause of some problems.

Selected Lessons from My Dietary Experience
Fruitarianism in Retrospect

     TB:  In 1981, I learned of a type of mental illness, something called anorexia nervosa, a type of eating disorder. I looked back at my fruitarian years and wondered if I had had an eating disorder then. At that time, my research was very limited, and I did not reach any firm conclusions.
      Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder made up of complex physical and emotional elements.  A person with anorexia severely limits food intake, has a distorted body image, refuses to maintain a normal body weight, and is intensely afraid of gaining weight, despite being very underweight.  TB was not concerned with intentionally losing weight; his obsession was in trying to follow a mythical diet while eating poor quality fruit.  His disorder was intellectual in nature; his ignoring the qualitative and quantitative chemical issues of diet.

     TB:  I was, in typical raw-fooder fashion, very emaciated at the time.
      Although raw fooders are typically carrying far less fat, stored toxins, and impacted feces than cultural diet eaters, there is NO reason to call them all "very emaciated", as humans evolved on a totally raw diet.  Natural animals, on their totally raw diets, are most certainly not "emaciated".  TB, at 88 pounds, was emaciated, but that was a result of his poor dietary choices and his systematically ignoring the important qualitative/quantitative issues.

     TB:  However, fruitarianism often is/can be self-starvation caused by fear--fear of cooked food, protein, mucus; these are a few of the many fears promoted by fruitarian extremists.
      Notice that the intellect is not used; rather, "fear" is the motivation.  Thus, the error of taking an emotional approach to one's diet.  I have never seen these "fears" being promoted; perhaps, this is another projection of TB's ego?

     TB:  I allowed the bogus fear of mucus, and the drive to be "pure" (mucusless, per the title of Ehret's book), to dominate me.
      Finally, an admission that TB wallowed in emotional negativity, and that his emotions controlled his diet, not rationality or an experiment to determine optimum health.  Since Ehret's book was written in German, it is unknown what his original German title was, or how accurately it was translated into English without seeing the German version.  Ehret did not advise one to fear mucus, as TB suggests.

     TB:  Those extremists who promote fear (of cooked food, protein, mucus) ...
      Are there really such people??  One should always seek out the reason(s) for dietary recommendations, and check to see if they are valid and supportable by rationality and scientific credibility.  Obviously, one should not make lifestyle decisions based on fear, as apparently TB does.

     TB:  The light feeling of a fruit diet is ungrounded, airy, a feeling of apathy and not being connected.
      Extrapolating his own admittedly disastrous results with their distortions of consciousness to anyone eating a nutritious fruit diet is obviously impossible; another example of his projecting his own failure onto others.

     TB:  ... in Ayurvedic terms, it may indicate a vata imbalance in the nervous system
      Another indication of TB's remarkable ability to embrace anyone's convenient dogma of the day with blind faith while consistently abandoning rationality.  Here's a definition of vata; does it make any sense at all?
     "Vata governs all movement in the mind and body. It controls blood flow, elimination of wastes, breathing and the movement of thoughts across the mind. Since Pitta and Kapha cannot move without it, Vata is considered the leader of the three Ayurvedic Principles in the body. It's very important to keep Vata in good balance."
     Is there any way to actually detect or measure this mythical entity.  Nope!  Again, the misuse of the word balance by falsely applying it to complex systems should have raised the Red Flag of Incredulity.

     TB:  Other advocates disqualify themselves by displaying the hostile, mentally unstable behavior of zealots (fanatics, extremists).  ... I was probably no better.
      This accurately describes TB's approach to diet and his writing style.

     TB:  ...in my opinion, the biggest criticism of fruitarianism is that it is dishonest in so many ways
     A concept that is dishonest?  A concept may be valid or invalid, but people are the only entities that can be dishonest.  Thus, criticizing "fruitarianism" because of the low quality of commercial, hybridized fruits is dishonest.

     TB:  Meanwhile, in reality, all the great apes deliberately eat some animal foods, because that is their natural diet
     Not so.  Hunting and flesh-eating among chimps is a cultural, not a nutritional, behavior.  IF it were a nutritional imperative, then all adults would consume it regularly, and that is simply not the case, among the chimps or the other apes.

     TB:  ... the fossil record provides overwhelming evidence that the evolutionary diet of humans included animal foods
     Here, TB demonstrates his well-developed ability to distort the meaning of scientific evidence to support unscientific, nonsensical claims.  Clearly, animals eating a plant-based diet leave no fossil evidence.  On the other hand, the human "fossil record" is the result of cultural practices and tools (club, ax, knife, fire, ...), most certainly not natural phenomena.  IF flesh-eating were a part of the "evolutionary diet of humans", then WHERE are the INSTINCTS for humans to kill and eat raw animal flesh??  Where are our physiological tools to make it possible??  Do the misguided believers in the crackpot Paleo Diet kill and eat their animals raw, with their bare hands, as do all natural species that include animal flesh in their diet?? 
     This "fossil evidence" occurs only in the cold climates where the natural diet of our species does not exist, and the lack of proper vegetation in the cold months necessitated flesh-eating.
     Taking an animal species thousands of miles away from its proper ecological niche, thus denying it access to its natural diet, then inventing tools, culture, and domesticating fire, and finally falsely claiming that this cultural behavior somehow is related to the "evolutionary diet" of the creature is simply intellectually dishonest.  Invoking this very recent fossil record in an attempt to 'prove' that the natural diet of our species included flesh is as meaningful as archeologists some 10,000 years in the future looking at today's garbage heaps and similarly falsely inventing our "evolutionary diet" from this recent cultural evidence.  It can not be done!

     TB:  The extremists who proclaim themselves as perfectly healthy, when they are so emotionally unhealthy that they cannot respond to criticism of their ideal diet in a civil, rational manner.
      TB manifests exactly this behavior; again projecting it on others.  He personally caused so much chaos on a raw food mailing list that he caused himself, John Coleman, and myself to be thrown off that list, as John and I had presented rational counter-arguments to his groundless dogma.  He also has a reputation of sending personal hate e-mail to people that disagree with him in public; again myself, and others have experienced this juvenile behavior.

Lessons from the Natural Hygiene Phase
Avoiding the Trap of Worshiping Herbert Shelton

     Who claims we should worship Shelton?

     TB:  Although I disagree with Shelton on a number of points
      However, none are given or explained.  As usual, no facts or logic are presented to support TB's beliefs.  Shelton's dietary recommendations are pretty simple: all raw, fruits/vegetables/nuts-seeds, properly combined for optimum digestion.  What are TB's disagreements? 

Other Lessons in This Period

     TB:  A diverse raw diet in which fruit is only a minor component is better than a diet in which fruit is the dominant food, as sweet fruit (with its ample sugar content) promotes cravings.
     Since humans are frugivorous apes, a predilection to fruit is quite natural, as it is with the other apes; however, (undefined) "cravings" are unnatural.  Nowhere does TB define these cravings, nor seek out their source.  Apparently, Virginia Vetrano reports that protein deficiency may produce cravings for sweet foods.   Well-nourished people experience neither 'hunger', nor 'cravings'.  TB has seemingly traded his (undefined) "cravings" for opioid addiction via bovine beverage; is that progress?
     At least, here is the first admission that a diverse diet is recommendable; however, the benefit may be more from the minerals and other nutrients in the non-fruit foods, rather than some unsupported claim that "sweet fruit promotes cravings".

     TB:  A long-term pattern of frequent short-term changes in diet (e.g., frequent rapid shifts from cooked to 100% raw and back) is not good for you in the long run--it disrupts digestion and promotes cravings
     Is that what caused some of TB's problems?  How it "disrupts digestion and promotes cravings" is left to the fertile imagination.  Note: no support for these kinds of far-reaching assertions is ever given.  Previously, too much fruit caused "cravings"; now it is flip-flopping between raw and cooked.

     TB:  It is wise to be very skeptical of the "experts" and "diet gurus," especially if their writings contain a lot of nonsense and very little factual content.
      You will notice that this describes TB's writings perfectly -- no facts, no logic, no analysis, no science.  Again, his frequent projection of his own flaws onto others.

Lessons From the Last Two Phases (1990 to Present)

     TB:  Raw diets do not guarantee perfect or even just plain old "excellent" health.  My own health problems and those of others (friends and rawists on the email listgroups) attest to that.
     TB never even attempted to consume a quality raw diet, he did not attempt to eat sufficient quantities of specific nutrients, he merely ping-ponged between different, totally inadequate diets, and subjected himself to repeated thermal stress.  The "failures" of the few do not invalidate the successes of the many.  There are many thousands of people who are quite pleased with their results on a raw diet.
     If all the other species of Life on this planet manifest perfect health on a raw diet, and humans are the only species that "fails" on a raw diet of commercial produce, then it would seem obvious that the poor quality of the commercial human diet, thermal stress, and the validity of the human's understanding are the causes of any problems.

     TB:  By the way, wild animals eating a raw, truly natural diet often die of disease.
      Really?  Often??   Here's where some credible data would help, but we get none; just TB's authoritative, unsupported assertions.  It should be obvious that humans are the sickest species on the planet; the only one with rampant, diverse "degenerative" and acute diseases.

     TB:  ... or you have swallowed the lie that medical doctors are bad. See a qualified health professional if you have problems; ...
      MD's generally do not have any background in nutrition, about one out of four medical schools give short courses in orthodox nutrition.  Medical doctors make their money by trying to control natural biochemical processes with unquestionably toxic, synthetic chemicals that have never been in the human body in our evolutionary past; they do not try to promote health, healthy diets, or healthy lifestyles.  Orthodox nutrition is little more than advertising propaganda of the food cartels as it promotes the false Four Food Groups model of nutrition.  There is very little research into raw diets, or optimum human diet.  Where would one find a "qualified health professional" that has any theoretical or experiential understanding of raw diets??

     TB: If one has enough faith in something, it often works, ...
     TB's boundless faith in commercial fruitarianism almost killed him, repeatedly.

     TB:  but it is also ego and ignorance that drives the extremist to believe that THEIR "knowledge" of nature and its laws is perfect and complete
      This describes TB's attachment to dietary dogma perfectly.

     TB:  Nature has many mysteries, and healing is, at least in part, one of them.
      Since "disease" is concentrated in the human domain; the only way to health is to try to emulate the natural condition, especially diet, and let our genetic programming do its job.  That is not particularly mysterious.

     TB:  Be open to new ideas and information.
      Here's some new-to-TB ideas: commercial fruit and vegetables are of very poor quality; it is important to consume a sufficient quantity of various nutrients; the other frugivorous apes consume leaves and nuts/seeds; when you weigh 88 pounds, you may have a serious protein deficiency; talk about diets that ignores the specifics of biochemistry is totally meaningless.
      Agribiz is developing "new ideas" regarding the genetic manipulation of food crops to increase industrial profit by recent "advances" is biotechnology; should we really embrace the totally untested frankenfoods currently being dumped into our food supply without our knowledge or consent?

     TB:  When you are open to new ideas, a whole new world awaits you.
      Like his other simplistic dogma, this one is faulty; he ignores the fact that ideas may be credible or foolish.  Nowhere does he try to determine the credibility of the concepts he holds or propagates.

     TB:  I invite you to join me--and the others on this site--in exploring this world, the world called reality.
      Here's a piece of reality TB consistently ignores: the only language that enables one to discuss human nutrition in a valid manner is biochemistry, and all dietary diatribe that ignores chemical thinking is totally meaningless, like the great majority of the beyondveg website.

End Notes

     TB:  You can learn from my mistakes...
     FINALLY, an admission that HE made mistakes; his personal errors, however, do not invalidate any possible successful experimentation with nutritious high-quality foods in the proper thermal environment.  
     Still, he does NOT identify his mistakes and correct them.  E.g., he now lives in San Francisco, a cold, damp, essentially sunless environment, very different, and much more stressful, than our proper Tropical ecological niche.  So, his body is still under constant thermal and nutritional stress, and deviations from the human evolutionary diet are necessary to cope with this stress.  His personal choice to live in an environment unnatural for our species, however, does NOT invalidate our evolutionary diet, our evolutionary biochemistry, or our proper ecological niche.

     TB:  ... for years, I tried to forget parts of my fruitarian experience
     Instead of learning from it?  Another indication of unhealthy mentation.

     TB:  Encouraging you to think for yourself is a prime goal of this site.  My writings, and those by others on this site, are an antidote to the nonsense and misinformation promoted by dietary extremists.
     Sounds good, yet there is no analytical thinking apparent on the site. 
     The fundamental and critically-important concepts of the quality and quantity of "foods" and specific nutrients is uniformly ignored.  The only language applicable for both thinking about, and communicating about, "food" is biochemistry, yet biochemistry is totally ignored.  Nowhere in this article does TB even try to determine his nutrient deficit(s) and then endeavor to correct them.  He is hopelessly lost in a conceptual maze of irrelevant, nonsensical, abstract philosophy (ideal diet, filling and satisfying, Ayurveda, etc.), and he remains so to this day; thus, he is totally unable to detect, comprehend, or eliminate his serious nutritional deficiencies.  He consistently ignores the fact that commercial produce is of very poor nutritional quality, and that it has been genetically-manipulated for economic purposes, such as size, shipability, etc., most certainly not for nutritional quality.  
     There is no rational, scientifically-credible thinking presented in this article, or on beyondveg in general, just pseudoscientific, anti-vegetarian/vegan propaganda, apparently written by similarly "failed" vegetarians/vegans, the purpose of which is to take the responsibility for "failures" from the errors or misadventures of the "failed" individual and pin it on a specific meaningless philosophy, while promoting yet other unsupportable and meaningless philosophies.