During my raw journey around the world (i.e. the wide wild web one), I stumbled into the bizarro world of a forum on paleo raw, complete with pics of their community enjoying raw meat and blood. If I have to follow that route for robust health, just shoot me now (and contribute my internal organs to their festive feasts). Having said that, I'm intrigued by the paleo philosophy and wonder what others think of it. Is it possible to be vegan raw, or at least high raw, on such an approach, minus the blood worshipping? I saw one fruitarian website that appeared to agree with the paleo philosophy, minus the meat, believing hunting in the hunter-gatherer clans was done rarely, eating mostly fruit. Alas, that approach isn't possible for me. For those who followed my last thread, my bananas won. Apparently it doesn't pay to threaten them into ripeness. They conspired against my internal workings and it quickly became apparent that I can only handle low-sugar fruits at this time, ala the Cousins approach. Thus, I'm currently swinging in the rainbow tree of life and doing better.

Most paleo enthusiasts, it appears, assume hunts were largely successful and thus our physiological evolutionary equals consumed a lot of animal protein, between periods of fasting. I wonder, why does it always have to be one extreme or the other? Where's the balance?

I do notice that all these various dietary forums, no matter the approach, have one thing in common: there's a group of staunch believers and a group trying and struggling with said approach, with the usual banter about doing it wrong or going through detox. It seems you can change the approach and the names of the players, but the results remain the same. And everyone agrees that processed foods and the SAD are the main culprits.

What say you? Does the paleo philosophy enter into your vegan raw paradigm?

I tried paleo a few years back.
I NEVER ate raw meat or drank blood for sure.
I abandoned the diet because it just didnt "feel" right,and I wasnt willing to constantly source out totally organic meats.
I guess what won me over to the raw vegan diet was the acid/alkaline issue.
Meats are all acid.Protein can be gotten elsewhere.

Vinny

Paleo first reared its un-anthropologically vetted head in the mid seventies. So did wearing your too tight shirt undone to there and sporting a big ol' gold pendant in the middle of your chest. Some kooky ideas go the way of the tailored suit, and some just don't die. I put Paleo in the latter category. Eating simply is a good idea, eating naturally and as close to the earth as possible. But those people go too far in that we are not Neanderthal. Well, at least I ain't

Here's a blog of a paleo that has found the benefits of 811:[castlegrok.com]

Im not a Carnivore .. ima KARMAVORE

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

It seems there's a tendency, reading all these sites/blogs/forums, for many people to always stretch towards the extreme - the purist diet, the greasiest diet, the fastest or longest runner, to climb the highest peak, etc. I've had the same tendencies. The older I get, however, the more often I come back to the same place, searching for a sensible balance.

I eat something along the lines of paleo, but with more raw vegan food (no grains here, not even the raw sprouted kind). I try to keep the balance of meals lying closer to the vegan side. Back when I was leaning more toward paleo, I found the same forum you mentioned and was equally put off by the thread featuring member's photos taken while eating raw meat. Regardless of my own veganism or lack thereof I just found it offensive. It seemed like they were gloating over eating dead animals which is just disrespectful. That's why I came to this forum.

I agree strongly with your last post as well.

I would no sooner revel in eating a bloody corpse than I would entirely cut out things like onion, garlic, herbs and spices, tea, all salt, oil, hybrid food, all supplements etc etc etc. Extremism in either direction seems kooky to me. I've been doing this for long enough to know about the benefits of balance.

Exactly. Why the extremism? I found that forum to have a lot of bad-talking about vegans and vegetarians as well, it was such an "you're with us or against us" sort of deal, as if caring about animal rights was viewed as unacceptable there. There is a lot of gray area between 100% raw veganism and taking pictures of yourself as you gleefully suck on a raw deer leg (ew)!

This forum seems to be more balanced than most others I've seen so far. And I've been to other raw forums which were less open and accepting of people in different places with the diet than this one, so I think I'll stick around here.

Everyone wants to be superman, or James Bond, or Peter Pan, or Wonder Woman, or the great hunter...

I suspect in part it's human nature to head towards an extreme viewpoint, unless you were raised in a healthy environment and shown how to live a more balanced life. Most fluctuate around it, experimenting one way or another until realizing this or that extreme doesn't work, or makes you sick. Some get stuck in their extreme views and defend it - to the point of insulting others (such as gloating over raw meat and laughing at vegans), and then either slowly deteriorate or wake up, having used one extreme or another to eventually learn to find a more balanced approach. Well, at least that's my story...

I agree, that overall I have found this forum to be more balanced than others.