Darkoshi

OMG. A vegan raw food restaurant opened in my area, and I wasn't even aware of it!

"Good Life Café in West Columbia, SC is a raw food cafe & juice bar that is now open! We are conveniently located at 3681-D Leaphart Road, West Columbia, SC 29169, next door to 24/7 Health & Fitness Center. Open Monday-Saturday from 7am-8pm."

http://www.goodlifecafe.net/

Daily menus are posted on their Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/goodlifecafe

I can't wait to try them out. Last year during my Jacksonville trip, I went to a vegan raw food restaurant in St. Augustine, and I enjoyed the food, even though I was new to raw food. Wow. I hope this restaurant is able to stay in business.

..

There's another vegan restaurant in Columbia, Lamb's Bread Cafe. I had almost forgotten about that one. The few times I've been there, the food was good. But Qiao and I gave up trying to frequent that restaurant because they hardly ever seemed to be open when we went, despite their posted hours. The last time, we were pleased that they were open when we got there. But then as we were ordering our food at the counter, we found out that they were in the process of closing early for the day, and so they only gave us food to go. Another thing that I found unsettling about that restaurant was that the food was served on styrofoam plates. But they've been getting good reviews lately, so we should really try them again.

Every so often I hear of someone who says that they tried a vegetarian diet for a while, but had to stop due to never feeling full, or due to lacking energy, or some such thing. If I recall correctly, in most cases these people hadn't even been on a vegan diet, but rather simply a lacto-ovo-vegetarian one. They said that they found they needed to eat meat in order to feel normal or well again. This always makes me wonder, if it is indeed true that some people need to eat meat in order to feel healthy, then exactly what component of meat is it that makes the difference, and what exactly is the difference between these people and other vegetarians who do not experience the same difficulties.

I found an article which discusses the above problem and calls it "Failure to Thrive" (FTT). I also found a interesting study being done on the long-term health effects of veganism, with one of the goals being to determine what causes FTT among "unsuccessful vegans". Apparently the study was started in 1998 but is still ongoing and accepting new participants.**

Clinical Summary 2005 - based on some prior results of the study.

Nutritional Strategies for Inflamed Joints and Other Conditions. Perhaps I should try some of the things on this page. My lower back seems to keep getting worse.

**An optional part of the study involves getting blood and urine samples analyzed with various tests. The website says that $750 is charged for this. (whoa!) I was wondering if that was a reasonable price, so.... this page lists the tests that are done. An earlier version of that page, from the Internet Archive, mentions that the test is the "Metametrix Clinical Laboratory #190 ION Plus panel". This page prices the Metametrix "ION (Individual Optimal Nutrition) Profiles - Blood & Urine " test at $785. So apparently the price is valid.

Here's an old post I was searching back for. A bit over 3 years ago. I've come pretty far since then. I suppose, anyway. Not really any more optimistic than I used to be. But at least then I had a vague idea what I was seeking - "exploration of nonsexual BDSM experiences".
Now, I don't know anymore. Or maybe I'm just in a funk, right? Yeah. Funkydelic.

Oh yes, and speaking of years, I was counting them today, and...
I've been a vegetarian for 19 and a half years. Vegan for 19 years. Whew.