Raw Living

I was in Fairfax, CA the other day, and walking down the street I found Lydia's Kitchen, a raw and cooked vegan restaurant. Much less pretentious than Cafe Gratitude in near by San Rafael, it was warm and welcoming with earthy art on the walls. This is the same Lydia that runs Lydia's Organics that you can buy at health food stores. I had the small raw 'kreamy pizzaz' and a fig drink. My baby had some banana. It was so good. I hope to go back soon.

http://lydiaslovinfoods.com/cafe.html

RAW Pesto

So I may not be technically raw...not 90%, not 85%...maybe...ok, not 50%...maybe 25%? Maybe. Ok. The basil in our garden was starting to react to the cold, so I made RAW pesto:

1 part basil (the rest of what was in the garden)

1 part spinach

about 1 cup olive oil

salt

juice of 1 lemon

3 cloves garlic

2 cups walnuts (pine nuts being hard to find right now)

Really tasty! I can put it on raw veggie noodles, or cooked noodles. I have also frozen most of it in small "cookies" and put it in the freezer with waxed paper between each cookie. Healthy!

"Gurdjieff and Food" and The China Study

I just read an article in The Gurdjieff Journal( http://www.gurdjieff-legacy.org/10journal/tgjcurrent.htm) entitled "Gurdjieff and Food, Part 1." In it, the author Jean Lauderdale details Gurdjieff's teaching about physical food and the way in which it works with our bodies. She describes his prescriptions for optimal (and indeed, correct) food intake. She relates a section of Gurdjieff's book All and Everything regarding vegetarianism and the pros and cons of following such a diet, and why in the end, following a solely vegetarian diet is untenable. At the end of the article, she writes about The China Study, a study published in 2005 by researches from Cornell University, Oxford University, and the Chinese Academy of Preventative Medicine.

I was interested by this last piece of information, but did not take it any further. Then, by happenstance while looking for a green smoothie recipe, I came across a video link to a lecture given by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, the author of the study and professor at Cornell. I was completely shocked by the information he gave. Not only that as he said, "someone is controlling the information," and allowing, nay recommending, that Americans eat far more animal protein than is SAFE. His study also demonstrates a link between casein (milk protein) and cancer. It is a carcinogen. And here the average American is thinking that by eating low-fat dairy products she is doing something good for her body. You'll have to view it to believe it. If you can't handle all 50 minutes of the lecture, fast forward to around minute 35.

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-1308977765978236346#

The First Obligolnian Striving

For those of you who are familiar with G. I. Gurdjieff and his legomanism All and Everything, you may remember that the first of the being-obligolnian-strivings was "to have in their ordinary being-existence everything satisfying and really necessary for their planetary body." And by extension, not to have the things that are not necessary. My cousin used to say, and I don't remember where she got it, "Eat to live, don't live to eat." Eating raw is the best (and only) way I've found so far to both follow that maxim and successfully work toward that first striving. Eating cooked food always left me eating more than my stomach could comfortably hold. Not a problem with raw food. And it contains so many vitamins and minerals, as well as fats and proteins (which people always seem to have a hard time believing).

Raw Living

A few months ago, I bought a juicer. My chiropractor had recommended a book about doing a cleanse, so I thought I'd start with the juice. A friend had some fruit trees in her back yard, so I went over to collect some peaches. She told me about a diet of raw food that she had been reading about. I'd been a vegetarian, and had eaten a vegan diet for parts of the year to avoid allergies, but I had never heard of a raw vegan. She loaned me Alissa Cohen's book, Living on Live Food  (http://www.alissacohen.com/shop/Book-p-1.html) which I took home and read cover to cover. Just reading it filled me with energy! This diet had helped so many people with their conditions; high blood pressure, diabetes, skin problems, energy problems, arthritis. They all looked fabulous, she looked fabulous, and her food (in the recipe section) looked fabulous!

Since then, I've been (mostly) raw. I do feel fantastic! I've lost 15 pounds, have more energy, and feel happier. Sometimes I really want some old, comfortable, cooked food and then I eat some, but it never makes me feel as energetic and alive as raw or living food. I built up to eating some Thanksgiving turkey by eating cooked food, then some dairy, and finally a little meat. It didn't make me feel great, but emotionally it felt good. Now I have to get the leftovers out of my house, and back to Raw Living!