I am not a vegetarian but I do respect vegetarians for their philosophy and life style. The principle that they refuse to kill to eat makes good sense to me and is in keeping with my views and convictions. As you must recognize, there is a magnificent variety of good food in the vegetable kingdom.

However, through the years I have observed how vegetarians eat and one thing that I do not approve of is their broad use of canned or packaged soy bean foods. Please understand that I am not attacking soy beans but I am opposed to the textured soy protein products, soy bean meal, hydrolyzed soy protein products, and anything and everything made from soy bean residue.

This residue is the end product after the oil has been extracted from the soy beans by the use of hexane, which is the most vicious, harmful petroleum product in existence. It is used as a solvent and as quickly as it touches the crushed beans, the oil flows forth freely. The highest possible percentage of extraction results from this treatment and that is why it is used. No other solvent is so effective or as potentially harmful. Then, in order to use both the oil and the meal, the hexane must be driven off again .... and for this purpose high heat is imperative.

This is the true reason why the chemists concocted the preposterous fairy tale that unless soy beans are subjected to high heat they contain a deadly enzyme inhibitor that could kill you. It is the hexane gas that is deadly and not the soy beans, but this is how the story began. It is these hexanated soy beans that give good old soy protein its well deserved black, black name.

Wait, I am not finished with my expose of these contemptible highly processed and chemically loaded soy products. In their bid to avoid flesh food, vegetarians tend to roam helter-skelter up and down the supermarket aisles to see if they can find something that is devoid of meat yet looks and tastes like meat. Some of the concoctions that I have known them to eat would terrorize me out of any wits that I might have left. Believe me, friends, I love vegetarians and their way of life dearly but I tell this tale about them because I love the truth more.

One of the major chemical and drug conglomerates is now the owner of one of the major vegetarian processed food corporations. When I read of the take-over of this old established vegetarian food company, I was dismayed .... but just leave it to the big drug and chemical companies to try to get into all phases of the food industry.

Now I know a wee bit about chemistry and biochemistry and I wouldn't sleep beside these products, let alone eat them. Furthermore, I have a good big book called "Gleason's Toxicology" and that book tells what all the chemicals put into those foods will do to your innards.

It is my belief that a raw food diet is of greater importance and value to a vegetarian than to a conventional eater or carnivore. I base this conclusion upon the fact that vegetables and fruits lose more of their nutrients and vitamins in the cooking than does meat.

I admit that at present I have no conclusive proof for this statement but I mention it to keep the record straight. I may add that one of the major reasons for this is that when vegetables are cooked the cooking water usually is discarded and with it goes some, many or all of certain vitamins, minerals and elements which through the years have been proven valuable or even vital. So if you are a vegetarian, I believe a mainly raw food diet is essential for your well-being and long life.

Vegetarian information: I am convinced that if you intend to live as a vegetarian and stay alive and healthy, then it is advisable to grow as much of your own food as you can. As a vegetarian you need large quantities of vegetables and fruits but the tremendous amount of sprays, pesticides and poisonous chemicals that are generally used for insect, disease, fungus and weed destruction is virtually overwhelming. Therefore, you must grow your own food and grow it organically.