goodsamaritan: It's something I'm considering and kind of naturally shifting toward. My history with veganism had me terrified of meat. I'd never cooked it myself or anything. While paleo, I cooked my meat to FDA standards... used a thermometer and have all the temperatures memorized for every kind of meat. However, since going ZC, I've become repulsed by well done meat. I started wanting it medium rare, then had some undercooked steak at a restaurant... it was bloody and everyone thought I should take it back. I was like a wolf, gobbled it all up within about a minute. I now crave my meat rarer and rarer. So raw carnivory is something I'm investigating right now.

 miles: I've been ZC since April, and I will definitely keep everyone posted. Probably mostly on my blog, but I'd really like to talk to more people who live similar lifestyles, so I'd like to be active here. It's frustrating that so many ZC-specific places are so inactive! The subforum here seems pretty inactive too. Understandable given the lack of popularity, though.

 Thank you for sharing your experiences. As a raw fruitarian for a year, I was so attached to the idea that it was the perfect diet that I didn't want to believe it was destroying me. I stuck with it, believing everyone who told me my symptoms were detox. It almost killed me -- literally. I will not make that mistake again.

 So if I start to feel ill or have weird symptoms, I will definitely keep your story in mind and do what my body needs for me to do, whether that means a diet change or supplements. But, believe it or not, I've actually been hospitalized a few times because of vegetables! Similar to those with Crohn's, diverticulitis and other digestive disorders, I've been advised by mainstream doctors to take it easy on the veggies -- permanently. While I have a list of I think like three vegetables I can tolerate and one grain (white rice) without a ton of pain and symptoms, they still cause enough distress that I don't feel like ZC is much of a choice, at this point. I'm pretty sure 30g of fructose would kill me. At the very least, I'd have to be hospitalized again. But I definitely remain open if my body changes in any way!

 Hi, Van, and thank you for the welcome!

 No, I haven't come from ZIOH. I have read the board, but it's so inactive, and some of the rules seemed kind of questionable, so I never bothered joining.

 As far as fructose malabsorption, I'm convinced that most people have a certain level of it. What it is is my small intestine doesn't have enough fructose carriers in it, so fructose just sits there without exiting, which causes bacterial overgrowth and a lot of fermentation in my gut -- which is why I always looked nine months pregnant. It was particularly odd because I'm 5'7" and 120-125 lbs. at all times, so my large stomach was striking. It was extremely painful. Some other fun symptoms of it were acne, lethargy, mood swings, insomnia, etc. All the result of known chemical reactions that happen as a result of the disorder.

 Fruit isn't the only thing that contains fructose, but also vegetables, and grains contain long chains of fructose molecules called fructans, meaning that I basically can't eat anything other than meat -- which is fine with me!

 I'm not sure if I always had it or if it's a recent development due to having been vegan for so long. I never ate a ton of carbs prior to being vegan. I hated cereal, oatmeal, bread, rice and pasta. I liked meat and vegetables, and fresh fruit was an occasional treat that wasn't often in the house. We ate lots of salads and steaks/fish/roasts, etc. I don't recall having any pain or bloating until I went vegan. It got worse when I started a fruitarian diet known as 80/10/10, which destroyed my health within a year. Luckily, ZC has completely reversed all of my issues. But I'm not sure if I had this and didn't know, due to my never really eating grains or tons of sugar, or if it developed as a result of loading my body with carbs and fruit due to different forms of veganism.

 I've never heard of Ron Rosedale, but I'll definitely check him out!

 I think people forget that agriculture is a huge enemy of the environment, and farming grains kills entire ecosystems. Every time a field is plowed, it kills animals. Every time a field is sown, it kills native plants that feed insects and animals. Topsoils are being depleted. It causes tons of pollution due to farming practices and shipping. And additionally, there's the issue of pesticides killing everything off. No one eats without also causing the death of other animals. It's a sad reality of life. What's sadder to me, though, are the vegans who are feeding their dogs and cats vegetables and denying the natural order of things. Animals are designed to eat other animals, and we aren't exempt from that either.