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
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