Reflection on Claustrophobic Society

Why have we become so claustrophobic about food? Why are we afraid of supermarkets? Is it because they finally offer a variety of food suitable for various needs? Why is it so bad? Just recently I read an article in the Spectator about “the dangerous reality of clean eating”, which starts with the following sentence:

“The supermarket aisle has become a confusing place. It used to be full of recognizable items like cheese and butter; now you find yourself bamboozled by all manner of odd alternatives such as 'raw' hummus, wheat-free bread and murky juices”.

Have you noticed the attributes the author uses, like “odd alternatives” or “murky juices”? What does it tell you? Are we no longer open to differences and varieties? Do we need to have one thing, because our world is ruled by monopoly? Personally I find it strange. Isn't it a good thing. that now we can try almost anything? That we can cater to variety of people, because our abilities and imagination allow us to do so? Why clip the wings?

Advocates of healthy eating are portrayed in this article as religious disciples - they are the food bloggers. They are inflexible and they command the wellness and nutrition trends:

“The high priestesses of this new religion are a group of young, attractive women who amass hundreds of thousands of followers online as more and more people turn to them for guidance”.

See what I mean? They call them high priestesses of new religion. Derogatory comments are like ammunition, which are to be used in a battle. Who are they fighting? Are they simply worried about the many followers or maybe because they are afraid, that their world will collapse? But why would it? There are so many followers of traditional diet and in addition there are practices which ensure that we will not move away from it. So they should be safe. 

 

Just recently we have seen a documentary called “Cowspiracy”. It is a mind-blowing experience. Not only they confirm, what I have already written about about unsustainability of meat consumption, but also they show, that the main culprits of this conspiracy are organizations, which should fight preserving our environment in the first place, such as Green Peace and others. As a result the world went silent about environmental destruction of our planet and we pretend that all is OK. How strange. Actually both me and my husband, we were so shocked and our hearts were pounding so hard, that we could not finish watching the movie in one run and we had to take a break. It is horrifying to know, that we prefer to live in an illusion than to face the truth and actually do something about it. It is no longer living off the interest, we are digging into reserves and soon we will hit the bottom.

The problem is that we all over-consume meat. Even if we prefer meat over vegetarian diet we still do not need to eat it that much. According to my calculations, we can easily reduce consumption of meat by half and become healthier by sticking to a well-balanced diet. By being healthier we can also take care of the environment and everyone who lives in it. In addition, once we acknowledge what actually goes on around us we will be able to see, that this madness in the world of illusion is leading us to catastrophic results. We literally become sick and unhealthy from ignoring the symptoms of imbalance and the health of our planet is just yet another manifestation of what we do to ourselves. We live in the information age so we should take advantage of that. The information is out there, no one can hide it although by not speaking about it we make it disappear from our consciousness. If we woke up for at least few minutes we would embrace the unique, diverse, and even peculiar and discard uniform, homogeneous, rigid, conventional and monolithic.

Home-made cottage cheese

We all meditate in different ways. Some mediate using traditional methods, yet others do fitness, dance or paint. My best way to meditate is to be in the kitchen. I simply immerse myself in the process, so the rest cease to have any importance for me. Once, I owned a cafe and spend hours in the kitchen and was very happy. I was actually saying that probably I was the happiest person on the planet because I worked so many hours in the kitchen :) How sad that I could not make my living that way. Oh, well... I am writing about meditation in the kitchen because just recently I have done it again. Finally I made a home-made cottage cheese. I was making ricotta cheese often but I cannot find any explanation as to why it took me so long to try making cottage cheese. It is so easy and how gratifying.

My hubby loves cottage cheese and there is none where we live now. After I made it he said that he does not remember the last time he ate something so delicious. I take his word for it because I am not a big fan of white cheese. Sure I eat it but it is not something that I need or crave every day. So there you go, I made it and I will continue making it from now on.

It is not my recipe but I think that it is OK. A lot of those recipes call for fresh milk and I guess I was not convinced if I manage to replicate the taste if I use the pasteurized version. The cool thing with fresh milk is that you can also make buttermilk from it so in the end you are using all natural ingredients to make a new product. There are only few places in this world where you can find fresh milk and not everyone have access to them.

This version calls for milk products you find in your grocery store or supermarket. I am not against food from supermarkets because I believe that even such food can be nourishing. So to make this cottage cheese we need milk, buttermilk and yogurt. I used ratio 1:1:1. The only trick we should remember is to cook it very slowly. It took me 1 ½ hours to do it. I used the lowest setting “2” and played with the lid to control how quickly milk was warming up. You cook it until temperature reaches 40-50 degrees Celsius. And this is all. Sure it is time consuming because we need to be close to the pot for almost 2 hours but for me it was nothing since kitchen is my meditation field.

This cottage cheese can be used to make cheese cake or as the filling for crepes, my childhood dish that I love. You can also mix this cheese with onion springs and sour cream (or yogurt) and have a spread for your bread. I also like my bread with this cheese and a little bit salt or some honey. We also make potato and cheese pierogies, also called Ruskie Pierogi. I hope that one day you will also give it a try and you will enjoy it as much as we did.

 

Reflection on Raw Food Diet

Enthusiasts of raw food diet claim, that food is not only about nutrition, but also about life's energy. Food, which is eaten in its natural unprepared state, with all the enzymes intact, is the source of vitality, and our nourishment. In our hands, it is also an ammunition of strength and self-reliance. Labored beginnings, however, characterize the raw diet. It is a slow process, not a single event in time. But with mindful approach to food, we can select from life, what is best for our well-being.

Both paleo diet and raw diet discard processed and artificial food, and replace it with a simple and natural ones. Enthusiasts of raw food diet claim, that it is their lifestyle and although it is not an easy transition, it can be adopted by many. Testimonials from ordinary people are endless, but there is always one underlying note: it is a challenging diet and it works most effectively, if you follow the rule of 80:20, meaning that you rely on raw food 80% of a time and eat cooked food for the other 20% of a time.

Raw veganism is a plant-based diet, that involves no cooking. No food is heated above 42 degrees Celsius. Foods are eaten fresh, sprouted, dehydrated with low heat or fermented. So taking these ideas into consideration, let's come up with a healthy regime, which is also nutritious. Let's create a 1800 calorie diet plan, which is quite restrictive, hence more challenging. It is a daily plan for 1 person. So let's take a look:

1/6 cookie sheet of dry seed crackers (see below), 50g almonds, 25g nuts (3 walnuts, 3 brazilian nuts), 100g quinoa or lentils (every other day), 50g pumpkin seeds, vegetables (200g romaine lettuce, 2 tomatoes, 1 red pepper, 200g cucumber, 7 radishes, 1 beetroot, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 1 fermented cucumber, 2 onions), fruit (1 orange, 1 apple, 1 nectarine).

The above mentioned plan translates into the following:

vitA:821%, vitC:650%, vitE:113%, vitK:388%, vitD:?, vitB1:168%, vitB2:96%, vitB3:75%, vitB5:66%, vitB6:137%, vitB12:?, folate:290%, Ca:82%, Fe:120%, Mg:203%, K:175%, Zn:117%, Se:442%

COMMENTS

1. Healthy raw food diet means eating approx. 1.2kg of vegetables, 0.5kg of fruit. It is also based on eating nuts, almonds and seeds – we need approx. 180g of them every day as well as some grain and legumes, such as quinoa and lentils (I selected quinoa since it is the most nutritious type of grain and the same rationale was for selecting lentils).

2. Due to calorie restrictions, there is no room in this diet for any type of sweets, even those prepared raw. It is also hard to incorporate into this diet fruit, such as banana or avocado because of the calories (1 banana corresponds to 100 calories and ½ avocado means 160 calories). The same goes for oil. We should limit ourselves only to olive oil, due to high content of vitamin E.

3. The recommended amounts of vitamin D and B12 can only be derived from eating raw fish. If we consume raw fish twice a week, then we will take care of our daily requirements for those vitamins. The other options are to supplement the diet with vitamins or by adding nutritional yeast.

4. If we follow the rule of 80:20, then it is OK to cook hard-to-digest food like quinoa or lentils. It is also advisable to cook carrots and add them to food containing phytic acid, such as nuts or seeds (see here).

5. We should consume 1 fermented cucumber every day, to take care of our intestinal flora. Fermented vegetables contain probiotics, which are important in maintaining a healthy gut.

6. Raw food can be source of infection and it is due to the fact, that most food is in a fermented state and is of plant-origin. Hence it is very important to sterilize the equipment and wash thoroughly vegetables and fruit. We should wash them in acidic water to remove microorganisms and in alkaline water to remove pesticides. It is also advisable to rinse the mouth with water and baking soda. 

 

REFLECTION

Raw plants and vegetables tend to be hard on our digestion. So if we are constantly eating foods, that our bodies cannot digest, our ability to digest food in general is weakened. A weakened digestive system can cause bloating, indigestion, constipation or loose stools, malnutrition, food allergies and a lowered immune system, even if we consume food filled with nutrients supporting our health. In Traditional Chinese Medicine it is believed, that raw foods are too “cold” - or yin – in nature and require too much energy from our part to digest. The cold, hard-to-digest food puts a damper on the body's digestive fires. The prolonged practice of eating raw depletes body's energy from having to support the weakened digestive system, which results in less energy for other bodily functions. Hence, enthusiasts of this diet steer towards uniform meals, to ease the digestion. They prepare simple meals and follow the rule of proper combining. In addition, a helpful tip is to keep fruit at room temperature and take vegetables from fridge at least 1 hour before eating. Eating food at room temperature aids the digestion and may alleviate some of the problems associated with eating raw.

Raw food can be the source of infection and every enthusiast of this diet knows, that raw food diet requires a lot of attention on our part. We should stay away from ready-to-eat food found in grocery stores as well as be wary about eating-out. The main reason why this type of food can be unhealthy is, because it is processed to encourage the growth of microorganisms. Every time when we ferment or sprout food, we also encourage the growth of bacteria and if not careful we can make ourselves ill, because of what we eat. This is probably one of the reasons, why raw food lovers tend to cook at home and devote a lot of their time to washing food and preparing meal for themselves.

Arguments against this diet rely on not sufficient scientific evidence showing, that it can be healthy. And this is true simply, because we lack evidence based on practice and real-life stories. However, we often hear, that raw diet is the source of malnutrition. Raw food lovers are deficient in vitamin D, B12, calcium, iron, zinc, omega-3 and selenium. If you look again at my plan above you will see, that raw food diet is only sensitive to deficiencies in vitamin D and B12. Vegans try to circumvent the problem and eat nutritional yeast. And yes, they can be a good source of vitamin B12 but at the same time they are the source of vitamin B complex overload (for example 100% of vitamin B12 translates into 640% of vitamin B1, 570% of vitamin B2, 280% of vitamin B3 and 480% of vitamin B6). If you are on raw food diet and eat flax seeds and walnuts, then you are OK with omega-3 and brazilian nuts take care of selenium requirements. Good sources of calcium are almonds, sesame seeds, and oranges, so you may want to pay close attention to this food, not to become deficient in calcium.

For sure it is a quite restrictive diet, hence not for everyone. Personally, I love eating warm food and I do not think, that I will ever try switching to eating raw. However, as I have shown you above there are certain tricks to make this diet healthy. But is eating raw really hard on our digestion and drains us of energy in the long run? I leave it to others to decide. Definitely we need more evidence backed up by practice. The best thing about Raw Food diet, in my mind, is that it shows us, that with careful planning, we can also be healthy, if we rely on raw food, such as vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds. Sounds impossible, almost like paradox and that's the beauty of it all.

Seed crackers (1 cookie sheet): 1 cup flax seeds, ½ cup sesame seeds, ½ cup sunflower seeds. Ferment all in acidic water overnight. The next day rinse it thoroughly and mix all with ¾ cup of water to create thick dough – add your favorite spices. Leave to rest for approx. 5 minutes. Spread the dough onto a cookie sheet covered with a baking paper. Dehydrate in a dehydrator or bake in the oven set to 42 degrees until dry.

Reflection on Paleo Diet

Do you feel bombarded with change from every direction? Are you fascinated by the world and you want to explore it and experiment? Our imagination takes us to many wonderful places and our creativity also finds its outlet in our attitude towards food. Modern trends in diet change fast and they are no longer about weight loss, but the new lifestyle. Paleo food lovers turn away from our traditional western diet and toss out all processed food, to replace it with natural and healthy lifestyle. They believe, it is a journey into the roots and something much greater, but is it really? Is Paleo diet really the diet we are predisposed to naturally and the only solution to retain health, or simply our romantic fascination with tradition?

Meat consumption is part of our evolutionary heritage and some say, that we are genetically predisposed to eating meat. Hence it does not surprise me, that we have seen a huge success of Paleo diet in recent years, because it relies heavily on meat, as the main source of protein intake. Another reason is, that it appeals to our sensibilities, and scientific reasoning claiming, that we cannot escape our genetic makeup. It is the only healthy lifestyle for us, but is it really?

Before we jump to any conclusions, let's concentrate on the diet itself. According to recommendations we should derive 50% of our daily calories from meat, or meat products (lean meat, fish and eggs), 35% from oil and 15% from fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts. There is no room in this diet for processed food, diary, grains, legumes, starchy veggies like potatoes, sugar, but also for coffee and alcohol. So if we assume, that our daily allowances are 2000 calories, then we should derive 1000 calories from meat products, 700 calories from fat and 300 calories from fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts. With those assumptions, is it possible to create a healthy diet? Let's take a look.

I have analyzed the diet and have to admit, that it is NOT possible to include seeds and nuts into the same category with fruit and vegetables. The simple reason is, that seeds and nuts are dense in calories and 300 calorie limit is far too low to include all types of food. The best solution is to include them into either meat or fat category. So if we do that, then it is possible to create a healthy plan, which is not only nutritious, but it also fulfills our daily vitamin and mineral requirement regime. However, in order to achieve it, we should consume liver daily together with some lean meat and fish. If we toss out liver then consuming just meat does not make it OK or healthy.

So if we want to eat healthy we should consume every day the following: 250g meat (50g liver – chicken, 100g chicken breast, 100g fish – the best would be small fish, that we eat with bone), 100g almonds, and 2 eggs; 100g olive oil or any other healthy oil (I prefer olive oil, due to high content of vitamin E), and eat every day 100g broccoli, 200g dark-leaf vegetables, 1 beet, 1 carrot, 1 tomato, 1 small cucumber, 7 radishes, ½ red pepper, ½ onion and 20g sunflower seeds. If we follow those recommendations, then the nutritious breakdown will look like this:

VitA: 800%, VitC: 430, VitE:194%, VitK: 434%, VitB1:84%, VitB2: 198%, VitB3: 167%, VitB5: 88%, VitB6: 123%, VitB12: 308%, Folate: 241%, Ca: 91%, Fe: 117%, Mg: 143%, K: 110%, Zn: 90%, Se: 259%.

We will also have enough VitD providing we will stick with small fish and of course we would not need to worry about omega-3.

COMMENTS:

Deficiencies in VitB1, B5 and Zn can be overcome by eating more liver every day. For my calculations I used 50g of chicken liver, but if we change that amount to 75g, then we should be OK. As for calcium, it is tricky to ensure adequate amounts in this diet. Everyone should be aware of it and make sure to eat regularly small fish, almonds, and the tiny seeds, which I omitted in my analysis – sesame seeds. They are also a very good source of calcium, but in order to take advantage of them, they need to be fermented first (see here) – the same is true for almonds. Hence 28g of sesame seeds, or 3 tbsp, are equivalent to 160 calories, and this amount contains 25% Ca, 25% Fe plus other vitamins and minerals. So others are right in saying, that Paleo diet is the source of calcium deficiencies. Improperly eaten almonds and/or sesame seeds will not provide adequate amounts of calcium, because most of it will be bound to phytic acid and will be removed from our bodies. Something to think about.

My analysis has been done for 2000 calories, which means, that it is more representative of a diet for men, then women. Women on this diet should be very careful about their menu, due to calorie restrictions (1800 calories). They should get rid of traditional meat and switch to, for example, chicken liver and fish only. As for calcium they should experiment with almonds and sesame seeds. Sesame seeds are less dense in calories than almonds, but they are as nutritious as almonds. For example, 100g almonds translates into 500 calories and 28g sesame seeds (see above) equals to 160 calories. Both products are dense in nutrients, so it is a good idea to eat them every day.

I hope you noticed, that my analysis lacks fruit. They are high in calories, which makes them unattractive for this diet. A 2000 calorie diet should contain 300 calories coming from fruit, vegetables and seeds. So if we include fruit, then we do that at the expense of either vegetables or seeds. This means, that men can afford to eat fruit from time to time, but women should stay away from them and completely forget that they exist.

 

REFLECTION ON PALEO DIET

Killing animals and eating meat have been significant components of human evolution, that had a synergistic relationship with other key attributes, that have made us humans, such as evolution of human intelligence, development of language and of capacities for planning, cooperation and socializing in particular.

Given, that there are more of us now, we need more animals than our ancestors, to keep up with the tradition of meat consumption and deal with its “side effects”. Is it then possible to come up with a comprehensive appraisal, in order to contrast the positive effects of meat consumption with the negative consequences of meat production and to answer a simple question: are the benefits (health and otherwise) of eating meat greater than the undesirable cost, multitude of environmental burdens in particular, of producing it?

I hope, that I convinced you, that it is possible to stay healthy on Paleo diet. But this also means, that we need to consume 1kg of meat (700g traditional meat and 300g of meat liver) plus 700g fish every week or 48kg of meat (or 48 chickens) and 30kg fish every year. This amount is not particularly alarming, because in western countries consumption of meat is much greater, approximately 80-90kg/year. But comparing this amount to the average, which is 42kg/year, it is quite a lot, and there are consequences both from the production standpoint and the environment. However, the above calculations are based on the assumption, that we group almonds to the protein category, and if we move them to fats, then we will need to consume twice as much meat, which means, that we will consume 156kg/year of meat. A horrifying amount! Is this the price everyone needs to pay, so we can stay healthy???

Industrialized production of animals for human consumption is the source of multiple environmental burdens. At risk are land, water and energy sources, but it is also a source of greenhouse gas and reactive nitrogen burden. For example, while production of 1 ton of meat (poultry) requires 4,000L of water, cultivation of 1 ton of wheat depends on 1,500 L and 1 ton of potatoes has need for only 133 liters of water. Production of beef is more exploitative and it uses 17,000L of water to produce 1 ton of meat. On average production of 1kg meat requires 100 times more water than cultivation of cereal. By insisting on increasing the production of meat at the expense of other types of food we are wasting away natural resources unnecessary.

The same problem is with energy and we know how important it is for us. Meat production system relies on a ratio 25:1, which means, that to produce 1 calorie of meat we need to spend 25 calories of energy. Milk industry uses a ratio of 14:1, beef industry – 40:1, eggs – 39:1 and wheat – 2:1. To illustrate the situation, I have made my own calculations and found out, that to produce 1kg of beef meat we require 70 kW/h energy, which also means, that this energy will be enough to provide light to 250 apartments for 1 hour (or to drive 250km by car). In comparison production of 1 egg will provide light to 8 apartments for 1 hour (2kW/h) and 30 eggs are equal to 1kg of beef meat. I find it interesting and horrifying at the same time, don't you think?

Negative consequences of meat production are seen in other areas of our life. A rise in greenhouse gas emissions, landmass erosion and the fact, that we need more animals every day for our consumption purposes. Currently there is 5 times more cultivated animals in the world than us and if we continue to follow the trend the consequences are quite obvious.

I am not against meat consumption, but what I am against is our belief, that eating meat is the only choice to stay healthy. Relying on chicken breast leads to overeating, because we overcompensate the lack of vitamins and minerals in our bodies. Knowledge is power, so let's select food consciously. Living consciously means, that we take care of ourselves and the environment we live in at the same time. If we want to stay on a meat diet, then we should remember to include meat organs and fish into our menu. They are very nutritious and filled with vitamins and minerals.

In my mind, Paleo diet is not going back to the roots, nor it is a natural or healthy lifestyle. Presently it will contribute to degradation of the environment simply, because we need more animals to feed us. Paleo diet is an extreme approach, because it does not take advantage of other food, which has been shown to be nutritious, such as legumes or some type of grain, which by the way are less of a burden to our environment. Throughout history we experimented with food and now we can capitalize on our heritage to make intelligent choices. While meat was a prestige food throughout the millennia of pre-industrial history and associated with affluent economies, it does not have the same connotation anymore. Times are changing and affluence now means intelligence, so why not base individual diets on nutritional value of food and their vitamin and mineral content?