As I make food for the day in the kitchen, and in the last decade and a half, this has generally involved cooking, I ponder.... I was such a motivated raw and living fooder in the early nineties.... what is the process of believing so strongly in a lifestyle and yet going back to one that is less ideal...?
As I munch some fruit for breakfast (raw) and notice the incredible sweetness and richness, I feel light and energized. For my whole life, I have always preferred eating fruit in the raw state. Cooked fruit seemed diminished, less than.... What I felt intuitively was confirmed, when I read Fit For Life by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond http://www.amazon.com/Fit-Life-Harvey-Diamond/dp/0446553646/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341078451&sr=8-1&keywords=fit+for+life+harvey+diamond back in the eighties. This was truly my introduction to the effect of what we eat and when on our body. Basically this book contained the principles of natural hygiene, perhaps watered down or made more simple. In a nutshell, food combining for maximum digestion (though I have had trouble finding "hard science" to back it up, it always felt right on to me.... ) is the theme.
According to Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, eat fruit on an empty stomach, and only eat fruit before noon.... Complex food (ie meat or dairy or beans or grains or seeds or nuts) may be eaten, one category at a time with vegetables, and then wait for 3 hours before eating a different complex food. And presented in this book is the fascinating concept that the planet is mostly made up of water and so too are our bodies, so that to properly nourish (and cleanse on a regular basis) our bodies, most of what we eat should contain that much water - hence not be cooked because the cooking process takes away some of that water, changing the way it affects us. This made sense and when I began eating this way, it felt profound. I felt lighter and had more energy... I feel best when I follow this.
The fact that many raw and living foods recipes do not follow the principles of food combining (as they mix fruit and vegetables) troubles my sensibilities, based on my experience with food combining. That likely started my gravitation away. And as compared to nowadays when the raw and living foods movement is growing in leaps and bounds and you can find raw restaurants "sprouting" up all over, then in the nineties, we were a smaller group of "devotees". It was frustrating to go back to visit family or friends (not in the lifestyle) and struggle to find food that would satiate me. If one more waitress (or host) handed me an iceberg lettuce salad with a few pieces of tomato, in lieu of what the others were dining upon, I thought I might just start shouting, "Could you feel full after this?"
And I was young and working full time. So sometimes I did not prepare food ahead of time. I would eat a half a melon for lunch. But I would be hungry a couple of hours later, with no opportunity to eat. So soon I was making "allowances," eating the sprouted manna breads, sold in the natural food stores in which I was working, along with my otherwise mostly raw diet... http://www.mannaorganicbakery.com/new_manna/ver.php/mod/catalogo/categoria/14/Sprouted%20Breads%20by%20the%20Case. I have not eaten these in a while.... Yummy Cinnamon Date... and now they have a Fig Fennel Flax and Banana Walnut Hemp! I notice you can even order them on line..... They are not truly raw, but are often considered "transitional food," cooked at a lower temperature, with no added sugar or oil and utilizing sprouted grains. Nor were my favorite varieties "good food combining," but oh so delicious, as the ones with fruit tasted like muffins to me, the girl who no longer ate baked treats! I was a bit of a child in a candy store, having consciously deprived myself for quite some time....And then the cooked food came back.... Slowly at first and then the list of allowed foods kept expanding. so many foods I had not eaten for so long. So I am sure I enjoyed myself....
However I have to say, as I am cooking and I munch a raw piece of carrot before tossing the others into the steamer, I like how it feels. I feel light and bright.... A few minutes later, out come the sweet potatoes, piping hot.... And they are delicious, but I notice a heavier sensation. The raw foods feel like they heighten my senses... The cooked food feels heavier and I feel a bit less alert.... Hmmmmm... Food for thought....
So I would say "It boils down to..." how do you feel when you eat ___? Do you feel more alive and awake or more dense and ready for a nap? Now don't get me wrong, I do love how it feels to sleep, but that need and feeling should not be brought on by eating.... I think the ideal diet utilizes proper food combining, so separating fruits and vegetables is certainly best, but if mixing them together in recipes does not make you gassy or feel unwell, and you enjoy the unique flavors created by the mix.... then perhaps for you it is fine. We are all individuals. Ann Wigmore's teachings in the nineties focused on blending food (with rejuvelac), as she felt people, especially those who were ill, were not properly chewing their food and if food is not properly broken down in the mouth, we likely don't get all the nutrition from them. But if you are well and chewing properly, then certainly eating whole foods according to your need and instinct is likely fine and the natural way.
But as Dr. Ann titled one of her earlier books, "Be Your Own Doctor". No one else is inside and experiencing what you are. Don't allow another who claims to know better override your intuition and senses. Hear your body. And as Hippocrates once said, "Let Food Be Your Medicine."
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