Raw Food & Nutritional Yeast - Un-Bakers Beware

Those who know me know that I LOVE FOOD! I am a "foodie" by nature, and (as of late) have become a "raw foodie" as well. I have been scouring websites, devouring books, and valiantly trying recipes left-right-and-centre. My recipe excursions have been facilitated by my recent purchase of an Excalibur dehydrator and a Paderno Spiralizer. While I have long embraced raw food un-ccoking & un-baking, my recipes were limited to salads, and other recipes that didn't involve dehydration techniques.

My very first recipe was "cheesy" kale chips. The sauce was a combo of onion, garlic, chilis, dill, nutritional yeast, sunflower seeds, and water (to thin the sauce). I lovingly washed, dried and chopped the kale, prepared the sauce, coated the kale, and dehydrated in my beloved Excalibur 2900. The result? Deliciousness! Crispy kale that was chock-full of nutrients! I ate the entire batch, I am un-ashamed to say.

I noticed, however, that toward the end of the day my legs were, well, puffy. And not even mildly - very noticeably so! I have only ever had this reaction when I've indulged in drinking a Bloody Caesar, and I've linked the reaction to the MSG in the clamato juice (even if the clamato juice only reads "spices" on the label, there's guaranteed to still be MSG!).

Thinking back to what I'd eaten that day, the only "new" ingredient that I could pinpoint was nutritional yeast, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It's often used by vegetarians and vegans as a substitute for cheese, since it provides a "cheesy" taste to recipes. It also supposedly contains a high source of B-vitamins and protein.

However, nutritional yeast, as it turns out, is a deactivated yeast that is cultured in a basis of sugar and beet molasses. And while it doesn't have any added monosodium glutamate (or, MSG), I found out that ALL inactive yeast products contain free glutamic acid. Glutamic acid is a naturally occurring amino acid and many report similar side effects when consuming MSG as when consuming free glutamic acid.

Gabriel Cousens, M.D., Columbia University medical school graduate, author of Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine and director of the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Arizona, writes that "one of the main foods to avoid is yeast, baker's yeast, nutritional yeast, and brewer's yeast." It promotes a high level of mycotoxicity (or, poisoning of the cells due to fungi). Additional studies have also documented to toxic nature of free glutamic acid, as found in nutritional yeast. (e.g http://www.truthinlabeling.org/l-manuscript.htm)

I was, understandably, beside myself! Here I was, embracing what I thought was to be a healthy way of living, only to find that it is perhaps just as toxic!

Where, and how, do we strike a balance?

For me, I believe that the key is knowledge. We are empowered through knowledge. Sure, I happily un-cooked with nutritional yeast before I realized how toxic it was. Now? I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole!

How many people have heard the refrain: If only I had known! I would have done things differently, lived my life differently!

We become empowered through knowledge; through knowledge we have no need for these refrains. Yes, I may have poisoned my body a little through using nutritional yeast, but, in the words of Maya Angelou, "I did then with what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better."

Namaste. xoxo

"The Art of Happiness," by His Holiness the Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler, M.D.

On a recent trip to St. Martin, I read the 10th anniversary edition of "The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living," by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D. (Riverhead Books). Sectioned into parts, and sub-sectioned into individual chapters, this book chronicled countless hours of discussions between Cutler - an American psychiatrist - and the Dalai Lama, and also included Cutler's reflections on these discussions.

When I first picked up the book, I readied myself for a sort-of "battle of wills"; Cutler brings to the book his scientific and evidence-based practice of psychology, while the Dalai Lama brings his Buddhist understanding of human life and mental health. Instead, what ensued was Cutler's critical and insightful analysis of the Dalai Lama's views on human happiness. Each chapter begins with a general transcription of the issue at hand, whether it be sources of happiness, intimacy, suffering, anxiety, hatred, etc. It follows with Cutler's often critical reflections, infused with related clinical experiences as a practicing psychiatrist.
And when I say that Cutler is critical, I don't mean for it to be necessarily negative, but rather that he approached the Dalai Lama's opinions with a questioning mind, as Cutler takes nothing for granted.

Happiness is a right for all human beings, indeed it is our very purpose in life. So purports the Dalai Lama at the outset of the book. Cutler initially believes that the Dalai Lama almost takes the fact for granted, and Cutler reflects, "As I looked back over my years of psychiatric training, I could rarely recall having heard the word "happiness" even mentioned as a therapeutic objective. Of course, there was plenty talk about relieving the patient's symptoms of depression or anxiety, but never with the expressly stated goal of becoming happy. . . To my Western mind, it didn't seem the sort of thing that one could develop, and sustain, simply by 'training the mind.'"

Cutler's interviews with the Dalai Lama seek to identify a set of parameters, or, rather, a set of steps, that one can undertake in order to achieve happiness. As I read this book it became clear that identifying a prescriptive approach to happiness was not a satisfactory approach to attaining happiness as there are too many variables in individual lives. Cutler, I believe, also recognized this.

Although the book does not offer a set of parameters, it does offer a single thread that runs through the book, and through the lives of those that have attained true happiness: compassion. If we remove ourselves from an immediate and acute situation, lay aside our hot-headedness, our impatience, our frustration, our anger, our anxiety, our jealousy, our lust, our passion, and simply attempt to place ourselves in another's shoes, all of the above emotions seem to melt away. We look at one another with a fresh set of eyes and relate to one-another not as different genders, skin colours, religions, or races. Instead we relate to one another as human beings.

We are inter-connected with every single human being - as well as with every living thing - on this planet. Forgetting this simple fact is the root of all unhappiness. Remembering this fact, and living your life mindful of this fact, will help us achieve ultimate happiness and self-satisfaction (or should I say, self-LESS satisfaction!).

I highly recommend this book to all!

Namaste. :)

Greetings!

As you can see from the "About Me" section, I am a B.A., M.A., M.Ed., vegetarian, yoga-teacher-in-training. I love life, and I love learning about life. I love to share what I know - though I don't presume to call it "wisdom" - and I love to learn from what others know.

I would like for this bog to be a forum, of sorts. A communal gathering where individuals can share their opinions and experiences on health and happiness.

My posts will include healthy recipes, information on health issues, insight into holistic beauty & aesthetics, reflections on yoga postures, as well as meditations and musings.

I hope that this blog becomes as much of your blog, as it is mine. I wholly welcome your input, insight, and advice.

I look forward to sharing with you, and gaining from what you share.

Namaste.