50-50-90

I have been investigating different diets over the last few days.  Not diets like 'South Beach' or "Jenny" or 'WW' but diets; vegetarian, vegan, raw food, fasting, and liquid.  We are all on a diet; another word that our society has stigmatized into a word related to weight.  What we eat is our diet.  How would you classify your diet?  Mostly fruits and vegetables?  Mainly meat and potatoes?  Low fat?  Vegetarian?  This investigation makes me wonder what an optimal diet is.

Vegetarians; fruits, vegetables, soy, nuts, beans, whole grains, seeds, legumes, roots and water.  Cooked and raw.  Easily found vitamin supplements are needed to place some key nutrients but these naturally occurring foods are readily absorbed by the body.  Some vegetarians blur the lines and eat eggs and cheese and drink cows or goats milk.   Vegans share a similar diet, but no animal products are used whatsoever (eggs, cheese, fats).

Raw food diets share vegetarian staples but nothing is heated over 118 degrees to keep nutrients intact. Eggs, if eaten, are eaten raw.  Fruits and vegetables are dried.  Vegetable sprouts and seaweed are favorites.   Ingredients are juiced, mixed or blended.  Raw fish.  Cheese from raw, unpasteurized milk.  Whole foods eaten in their natural state.  That is the antithesis of the American diet where 90 percent of the food eaten is cooked, baked, fried, flavored, fattened, or fabricated.  Vegetables, milk, meat, fruit, roots, cheese; we pasteurize, pulverize, or poach the lot of it!

Fasting.  This one confuses me the most.  Fasting diets follow no rule or food plan.  Some are based around rice and broth, others are based on liquid food consumption.  Some allow you to eat for 8 hours of the day, some only allow the food to pass the lips every other or every third day or only in the dark.  Some claim cleansing benefits, some claim fat burning guarantees.  Fasting diets are customized, it seems, to the dieter whether it be for fat loss, for cleansing, or for religious requirements.  (Keep in mind, diets that remove fats, remove carbs, remove cholesterol, remove anything, are customized to the dieter in order to appeal to a perceived desire or psychological need.)

What if we blend the lot; 50 percent raw food and 50 percent cooked food 90 percent of the time?  More investigation is needed~  For now...  eat real food, support your vitamins with vitamins, give your body the water it deserves, and remember to wash your hands.  Stimulate your senses, breath deeply, laugh often, and I will see you here tomorrow!

Anna