The Nutrition Conundrum

Classically, drawing from the tenets of Ayurveda (Indian medicine) the yogic diet incorporates lacto-vegetarianism, allowing for dairy products and sometimes eggs, emphasizing high prana fresh foods but not excluding cooked foods. In yoga teacher training, my teacher told crazy tales of his experiences with every healthy diet under the sun. Vegetarian, vegan, raw foods, fruitarian. Even the "green" diet, where one only consumes foods that are green. A bit limiting, I thought.

The whole thing is based on ahimsa, or nonviolence, one of the five moral codes in yoga. This brings up an interesting discussion about whether plants have feelings. Aren't we killing them too when we eat them? Yes, but we have to eat something. Chickens or cauliflower? Cows or corn? Turkey or tofu? Consider it the lesser of two evils.

About two and a half years ago, immediately following a week of eating hot dogs and scambled eggs on the Atkins diet, I sporadically decided to go vegetarian. I never looked back. My body thrived. Whenever I did eat meat, I'd feel downright sick. But I also thought I'd never go vegan or, heaven forbid -- raw!

But here I am in California and going beyond the granola hippie chick. In the past, I have done fruit and vegetable detoxes, but some of it was cooked. Lately I have been into the Usana 5-day cleanse, which (in combination with exercise, yoga and meditation of course) has enabled me to lose fifteen pounds.

Today is the first day of my week-long raw experiment. My body is telling me to do it. I have been moving in that direction for a while now. Whenever I do eat cooked foods, especially heavy or greasy stuff, I get tired and feel terrible.

When I moved here last year, I met a fellow named Leon and began teaching at his wellness center in San Mateo. He has been eating only raw for over three years. At 58, he says he's never had so much energy and vitality. The theory? Cooked foods are stripped of their nutritional value. At first I thought, that's great for you, dude. I'll stick with the warm meals.

Surprisingly, there are plenty of mainstream media articles about raw foodism:
- The Joy of Uncooking from the San Jose Mercury News, April 21, 2004
- Raw-Vegan Food Movement Enters Mainstream from About.com
- Healthful, Raw-food Trend is Picking Up Steam from USA Today, April 2002

And raw restaurants are popping up all over the place. My favorites so far in SF are Cafe Gratitude (20th and Harrison) and Urban Forage (Haight + Fillmore). When I first heard "raw," like most people, I imagined carrot and celery sticks. Actually, it's really yummy and can be quite exotic. And it makes you feel so good! Leon lent me an amazing book called Raw Family by the Boutenko family. Check out this site for their amazing story.

Just what does raw mean? Well, there's vegan raw and there's omnivorous raw. I'm going with the vegan. No raw meat for me, thanks. I'll be sticking with the fruits, veggies, sprouts, seeds and nuts. And honey -- my one animal product. The bees won't mind, will they?

I'm not going raw indefinitely, just trying it out. I have a sinking feeling that it may last more than a week though.

Yoga Freedom. Health. Abundance. Freedom. (c) 2004. All rights reserved worldwide.