Part 23 (2/2)
The Airola Diet.
PAAVO AIROLA, PH.D., was one of the most knowledgeable natural doctors of modern times. The diet he recommends permits raw milk to be used as a condiment if one can tolerate it. The diet he suggests is similar to the traditional way of natural eating that is characteristic of many cultures around the world whose members have good health and longevity. The Airola diet recommends a lot of seeds, nuts, and grains. Next in importance are vegetables and then fruits. These food groups may be supplemented by some raw dairy products from healthy cows or goats, preferably in cultured form such as yogurt. Although Airola doesn't recommend dairy products, he allows use of raw dairy as a condiment in a way similar to what one sees in India by lactovegetarians. Actually, in his own clinical healing practice, dairy would often be the first thing he would ask people to eliminate from their diet. He also points out that only those who are tolerant to milk might even consider using dairy as a supplement. In the conscious eating diet, I suggest that if there is to be any use of dairy at all, it should be as a temporary transition step. Airola strongly emphasizes eating approximately 80% of one's food in its live state in the warmer months and closer to 60% live food in the winter, if one feels the need for more cooked food. He particularly emphasizes eating all the nuts and seeds raw, and sprouting most of one's nuts, seeds, and legumes. Airola also emphasizes some foods high in a source of high-quality vegetable oils because they supply the essential fatty acids as well as vitamins E, F, and lecithin. He also recommends kelp as a source of minerals, trace minerals, and particularly for its high iodine content. It is a diet that can be adjusted to balance all three doshas.
The Macrobiotic Diet.
ANOTHER MAJOR DIETETIC APPROACH that many people use as their first entry into vegetarianism is called macrobiotics. The term ”macrobiotic” did not start with George Ohsawa or even in j.a.pan. It was coined one hundred fifty years ago by the German researcher and physician Christopher Wilhelm Hufeland, in his book t.i.tled Macrobiotic, The Art of Prolonging Human Life. This is not the macrobiotic approach to which I am referring when I use the term ”macrobiotic.” George Ohsawa was the founder of modern-day macrobiotics. The first and foremost student of his was Michio Kus.h.i.+. Kus.h.i.+ brought macrobiotics to the West in the early sixties. In the nineties, several other macrobiotic leaders emerged who made minor alterations in its theory and practice. Although the most often-practiced macrobiotic diet includes white-meat fish one to three times per week, my use of a macrobiotic transition is a vegetarian version of macrobiotics.
The standard macrobiotic diet, as recommended by Michio Kus.h.i.+, puts a high emphasis on cooked foods. In his basic diet, Kus.h.i.+ suggests that cooked grains be at least 50% of every meal. Vegetables are suggested to be 20-30% of the daily intake and are recommended at every meal, with two-thirds of them cooked. Cooked beans and sea vegetables, equal to 5-10% of the daily intake, are suggested. Soups made from sea vegetables, grains, or beans with seasonings from miso and tamari are suggested to be 5-10% of the daily intake. The diet also strongly emphasizes cooking all fruit. There is no dairy in the diet.
Like the 80% live-food diet and the Airola diet, the vegetarian version of macrobiotics is an organic, low-protein, and high-natural-carbohydrate one; it is also a nondairy diet. I feel that the inclusion of sea vegetables in the diet is quite beneficial, as it adds minerals, iodine, and certain specific protectors from radioactive fallout particles. In the conscious eater's diet I suggest about two to three ounces of sea vegetables per week.
The other part of the macrobiotic approach which agrees with the conscious eating approach is their teaching that how and what we eat is part of a way of life. As I have pointed out earlier, what and how we eat is a reflection and cause of the awareness and harmony with which we lead our lives. As it has evolved, macrobiotics has included more room for individuality in the diet based on one's particular const.i.tution. As a movement, macrobiotics has an effective and extensive public media outreach which makes it accessible and attractive for many to make the transition from the typical American diet. Because of all of the above factors, I applaud vegetarian macrobiotics as a fine transition diet to vegetarianism.
Part of the effectiveness of the macrobiotic diet is the power of omission. Through the avoidance of high-protein flesh food, high-pesticide dairy, non-organic foods, and junk food, it is a great support to general health. The power of omission in a diet should not be ignored or minimized because it allows the self-healing aspects of the body to be able to do their job. One of the most significant health-benefitting impacts of any vegetarian diet is that it is significantly lower in pesticides and herbicides than a flesh-food diet. Stopping or lowering the intake of environmental toxins can't help but be a boon to our health.
Reservations about Macrobiotics.
THE GENERIC MACROBIOTIC APPROACH emphasizes a fifty-fifty balance of yin and yang energies of the food in the diet. The system is complex and for most people requires some training in order to master the cooking and yin/yang balancing procedures. In the conscious eating approach the focus on the balancing of yin and yang energies uses the totality of one's life to create an overall yin/yang balance, rather than primarily through the diet. This is an important difference because the conscious eating approach is primarily a live-food diet, with a minimal amount of yang grains. The conscious eating approach is a powerful aid to spiritual life. It is easy to balance the yin effect of the conscious eating diet with other yang lifestyle activities. It is only fair to point out that although macrobiotics puts a high focus on a balance of yin and yang foods in the diet as a primary way to achieve this balance, it does not entirely ignore the existence of other lifestyle factors which balance yin and yang. The more conscious one becomes, the easier it is to remain centered and grounded with yin foods as the main component of the diet. My observation in working with many spiritually committed people is that yin food, especially a diet high in live foods, accelerates the consciousness process, and as consciousness increases, people are able to increase their percentage of yin live foods without becoming unbalanced. On a theoretical level, I hypothesize that G.o.d's Divine fire actually begins to add a yang element that balances the more yin foods.
Although certain key concepts of the theoretical orientation of macrobiotics are right on the mark, I feel the diet itself does not necessarily create a stable, long-term, high-energy, radiant health as compared to a properly implemented live-food approach. The radiant energy of someone on live foods is easy to notice. The standard macrobiotic approach is different in a major way from the guidelines of an 80% or more live-food vegetarian diet recommended over the last hundred years by such nutritional lights as Dr. Airola, Dr. Ann Wigmore, Dr. Norman Walker, Viktoras Kulvinskas, M.S., Max Bircher-Benner, M.D., Max Gerson, M.D, Herbert Shelton, Dr. Edmond Bordeaux Szekely, Dr. Paul Bragg, and Dr. Patricia Bragg, all of whom have found a primarily live-food diet excellent for health and for healing severe degenerative diseases such as arthritis, heart disease, and cancer in hundreds of thousands of patients.
Macrobiotics does not address the scientific facts that show that cooking destroys self-digestive enzymes of the food, valuable antioxidant enzymes, and other living food factors. From this point of view, I particularly object to the roasting of the high-life-force foods, such as nuts and seeds, and insistence on cooking all fruits. This essentially total cooked-food diet destructures the food with heat, resulting in a 50% protein loss and approximately a 70-80% loss of the vitamins and minerals, including high losses of vitamin B12. A high-grain diet has a tendency to drive the body toward a more acid state, which for many people is not healthy. Cooked grains also have a tendency to produce excess mucus and destroy enzymes needed to enhance digestion and build the life force.
Although many of the principles of macrobiotics are drawn from age-old health wisdom of countries such as j.a.pan and China, its present form, in actual practice on Westerners, is very new. Although there is some research showing it may be helpful in the healing of certain types of cancer, macrobiotics doesn't have extensive scientific, cultural, or health research in the Western culture to show that it brings about optimal health on a large scale over hundreds of years, as the Airola and conscious eating approach of 80% live food does for the Western body. The use of sea salt, which is hard for the body to metabolize and can contribute to high blood pressure, is another potential health problem in the macrobiotic diet. With its high emphasis on salt and grains, and especially rice, from an Ayurvedic point of view macrobiotics is particularly helpful for people who have a vata const.i.tution and would be most unbalancing for those with a kapha const.i.tution. Due to the above reasons, I am cautious about recommending it beyond the initial transition stage to vegetarianism. In any case, macrobiotics has provided a great service in helping people become vegetarians and making organic food items available in America. I have observed in my clients that the vegetarian macrobiotic diet of Ohsawa and Kus.h.i.+, as well as Airolas diet, are both supportive for spiritual life.
Fermented Live Foods.
FERMENTED LACTIC ACID FOODS, such as sauerkraut and fermented vegetables, are good ways to increase the amount of raw food in the diet and a convenient, viable way to store food during the winter. Dr. James Lind did the first scientific study of raw cultured vegetables-another name for sauerkraut-in the 1700s and found that they prevented scurvy in Dutch seamen. The famous Russian scientist Elie Metchnikoff believed that one of the most important factors in the diet of the long-lived Russians he studied was its richness in lactic acid. Raw cultured vegetables have been used by the ancient Chinese, Romans, and even by the army of Genghis Khan.
Raw cultured vegetables are rich in the lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus brevis. These bacteria, via enzymatic processes, convert the sugars and starches in the vegetables into lactic acid and acetic acid. This acid environment is excellent for a healthy colon, where these same bacteria also grow. Because cultured vegetables are slightly acidic, they are a particularly good food for people who tend to be alkaline.
When the conditions for a healthy colon environment are produced, the growth of healthy colon bacteria is stimulated and the overgrowth of candida yeast is prevented. In The Complete Guide to Raw Cultured Vegetables by Evan Richards there are many testimonials to the successful use of cultured vegetables to treat candida. Patricia Bragg, Ph.D., daughter of the famous Paul Bragg, in a personal communication claimed that their ”research and experiences have shown raw sauerkraut to help alleviate candida problems, digestive problems, ulcers, and in general, helps to rejuvenate and promote longevity.” These claims only apply to raw and not to canned or pasteurized sauerkraut.
One of the most famous medical doctors who used the fermented vegetable approach was Dr. Johannes Kuhl. He regularly used cultured vegetables in his anticancer diet. He claimed that the lactic acid produced by the lactobacteria helps to prevent chronic disease and cancer as well as promote good health. One way that the cultured vegetables are so good for us is that they prevent the yeast, Albicans candida, and pathogenic bacteria from taking over the colon and creating endotoxins that suppress the immune system. In essence, the raw cultured vegetables create a micro-ecological balance in the colon that helps us maintain health. The vegetables mostly used in fermented cultures are cabbage, carrots, and beets. These are high in vitamins A and E. Cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable which is also high in vitamin C. The American Cancer Society's epidemiological studies indicate that diets high in cruciferous vegetables are a.s.sociated with less cancer incidence.
The lactobacilli organisms found in fermented foods are very high in enzymes, which add to our overall enzyme bank when they are taken into the system. These organisms help with the digestion and conversion of starches and sugars in the vegetables to lactic and acetic acid in our colon. This aid to our digestion further supports our overall enzymatic pool because now less enzymes have to be secreted by the pancreas for digestion. The friendly bacteria growing on the vegetables also digest the vegetables during the fermentation process so that they become an easily a.s.similated, predigested food. The best and most inexpensive way to regularly have raw cultured vegetables in the diet is to make them in one's own home. Please see the recipes in Part IV, The Art of Food Preparation.
Nuances of the Stage-Three Diet.
IN STAGE THREE, ONE'S AWARENESS of the acid-alkaline balance, food com-bining, avoidance of excessive protein intake, and organic foods becomes more refined. As one begins to understand these issues, one then begins to increase sprouting skills and to understand the importance of using more of the rejuvenating foods, such as soaked or sprouted seeds, nuts, grains, and legumes. These types of foods are called biogenic because of their high life-force energy. In the spectrum of the vegetarian diet one may find oneself s.h.i.+fting to 6080% biogenic and bioactive foods and 2040% cooked foods. Increased live-food consumption may include soaked and sprouted nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, legumes, and grains. In the later part of Stage Three, biogenic foods may eventually reach 30% of the total dietary intake. About 30 to 40% of the diet is fruit. This is also the approximate percentage for vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains. Over time, the fruits and vegetables become a larger part of the diet, and the grains, especially cooked grains, diminish in quant.i.ty. Soaked and sprouted seeds, nuts, grains, and gra.s.ses tend to stay about the same. Because the conscious eating approach is individualistically attuned to one's own const.i.tutional needs, each person will adapt a little differently to the variations of the seasons and changes in one's lifestyle and environment. The percentages suggested are more to give a general sense of what this stage might resemble.
During the summer, one tends to eat more fruits and less grains. During the winter, the more heating foods, such as seeds, nuts, grains, and legumes, will often be increased. Vata people tend to do better with slightly more grains and soaked seeds. Kapha and pitta people tend to do better with slightly more fruits and vegetables and less oily nuts, seeds, and fruits, like avocados. The cooked foods that are usually part of the 80% raw and 20% cooked diet are potatoes, grains, and fibrous vegetables with much cellulose coating, such as broccoli and cauliflower.
As one progressively adapts to the Stage Three way of eating, one may find oneself losing interest in dairy, even as a condiment, and eating closer to 80% raw- and 20% cooked-food cuisine. The main food groups in the end of Stage Three are primarily nuts, seeds, grains, fruits, and vegetables. Dairy may be totally avoided or slipped into the diet occasionally as a condiment on special, rare occasions. The idea is not to be rigid about live-food percentages or dairy on a daily basis, but to look at an overall average of one's dietary pattern. This general diet is one that will quite adequately support all one's nutritional needs and provide a gradual detoxification over the years, so ones body will progressively become healthier and be a better superconductor for the cosmic energy pa.s.sing through. A general guideline of 80% raw, 20% cooked, and 33% biogenic diet will completely support all aspects of ones life, including the spiritual. Such a Stage Three diet can be modified to be building or cleansing, acid- or alkaline-forming, warming or cooling, or more yin or yang Stage Three is also a diet that can still be comfortably adapted to social situations.
Preview of Chapter 24.
THE STAGE FOUR DIET IS ONE that seems to accelerate sensitivity and the spiritualizing process in many people. It is a diet for spiritual and raw food Olympians. The people who do best on it are those who have reached a certain amount of stability and harmony in their lives and are already experienced vegetarians. It is a 95% or more live-food diet with about 50% biogenic food. Although this is a powerful diet for enhancing spiritual life, diet is still just an aid to receiving and holding G.o.d's Grace. This chapter describes how to apply the art of conscious eating in a refined way. Although you may not feel it is time to try a Stage Four diet, its principles are worth understanding and applying to your diet as appropriate for you. Do you feel ready to up the intensity of your diet? Remember, part of being vegetarian and eating live foods is to be gentle and peaceful with yourself. If going to 95-100% raw feels natural and healthy for you, then go for it. If it is a major strain, then it is better to proceed in stages.
I. Becoming a spiritual and raw food Olympian.
II. One cannot eat one's way to G.o.d or personal happiness.
III. Stage Four: high biogenic-food diet.
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