Balanced diet???

[Gosia]

I find this concept mind-boggling. Well, in SAD yes, we all know what that means, a balanced combination of cereals, meat etc (yuck). But in raw food? What do you balance with? If I feel eating like fruit only one day, then is it unbalanced??? Clearly, my body is not out of whack, in fact, it is getting better. Yet, I eat raw foods that I like. Personally, I would like to erase the word "balanced" from the raw foods dictionary. I guess I don't like the word, because it comes from the SAD mentality.

What do you think?

Gosia

[Sharon in Colorado]

I agree balance is the wrong word. Maybe the word variety should be used.

I see nothing wrong with somebody eating the same thing all day long and then moving on to something different the next day.

There isn't a hard and fast rule to include every single color of the rainbow in your diet from morning until night. Maybe you want to eat green on Monday, blue on Tuesday, Yellow on wednesday and thursday, orange on Friday etc. Nothing wrong with that.

Maybe some people are afraid that they won't be getting their fill of nutrients. That is probably the biggest concern - that you have to eat as many colors or be as 'balanced' as possible so you don't miss out on that essential nutrient. But I believe the body is intelligent and if you don't get enough of one nutrient on Monday, you will get a lot more of it the following Wednesday and the body compensates.

That is why variety is important. Because one food is rich in certain nutrients while another food is rich in nutrients that the first food is lower in. It all works out in the end. Our bodies are the ones that will 'balance' it out, so we don't have to.

[lissomllama]

I think that the word balance should still be used because it is important, BUT, the meaning is what needs to change. Sad eaters say you must have a balance of certain foods EVERY DAY, but this is not sensible because one must look at how long it takes the nutrients one needs to be exhausted from their system. For instance, fat soulable vitamins like vitamin A take a little longer to leave the system so one doesn't need too many carrots every day or every day at all. However, water soluable vitamins like vitamin C leave the body every day so one should be getting moderate sources of vitamin C every 1-3 days. I would say that a person is following a pretty balanced raw vegan diet if they are getting a ROUGHLY equal amount of fruits, veggies, greens, nuts and seeds within in a 1-2 week period. These numbers are all ballpark figures but you get the idea. This makes sense to me and when put into practice, works perfectly. Balance is needed in nearly every aspect of our lives and environment so don't shun balance, just un-learn the things about balance that you know are wrong. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That right there is proof that balance is needed.

[DavidZaneMason]

-I agree with the above great posts.

-I think when you are eating healthy for a lifetime...then balance takes on a much more mellow and long-distance idea.

-I think if you are concerned....then a good wide variety of fruits, nuts, greens and juices every day should do you fine. The important thing is that you can be intentional and joyful and conscious about what you want in a diet....and pursue it with joy.....and accept what comes.

-David Mason

[Gosia]

Thanks for your comments. Interesting points. Don't shun balance? Yes, lol, I gues this is exactly what I am doing. I am still not convinced about the usefulness of this word. In particular, what does it mean "ROUGHLY equal amount of fruits, veggies, greens, nuts and seeds within in a 1-2 week period". Some might eat roughly none/very little vegies, nuts and seeds in any such a period, while others might eat quite a bit. Furthermore, those rough amounts may (and I think will) change as we progress on our raw journey, so I do not feel the need to stick to any numbers. On the contrary, I believe that being open to change is crucial. So, I am back where I started. I do not see the validity of the word balance in raw food diet. I do not see the validity of it, as in "to achieve a balanced raw food diet, you should eat ...". Rather, what I see is "if you eat raw foods that you love at the moment and are open to change (gradual improvements to your diet) then your body will be happy".

Gosia

[lissomllama]

That is part of the point though. Once one gets over their major detox, the body should crave the things it needs so balance will be acheived on its own, really. I just think that an occasional assessment of how much of what, one is eating can be helpful. I am all for eating what you feel like eating within the raw, vegan lifestyle, and once the body has it's own good judgement back after recovering from cooked, it will tell a person what it needs with cravings. So balance is nothing to worry about or constantly keep track of. It should come naturally despite fluctuations which are normal. I think that balance is a loose term and doesn't need to be calculated with numbers I just used those ballpark numbers as a general guide because it is an easy way to look at it.

[Sunshine9]

I think balance is a crucial part of diet. Our bodies are always in a general fluctuation between levels of yin & yong, hot & cold, acid & alkaline... if we get too in the clouds we need certain foods to ground us. For every person this is different, as we all have various constitutional make ups and life factors, and require different things to balance us. If our lives outside of the diet is completely balanced, allowing ample time for exercise, spiritual practice, sunshine, joy, water, clean air, laughter, deep breathing- then I think one would much more likely be centered and diet would have less effect. But if one is stressed and busy, always on the go, I think the slightest thing can knock us off balance and that is where maintaining balance in our diets is key.

Granted I think that any physical ailment is a sign that something somewhere in life is off balance. And it can be intuitevly and mentally that we begin to look into what that is, and what needs to happen to come back to center.

Eating all raw just as our body desires every day, over a period of months I think we will usually see balance because that is what the body wants. If cooked or unnatural items are present then our intuition is hindered and finding balance can be more difficult.

[Gosia]

Yes, I do think that balance ( what is such balance though???, I think I would prefer a use of word "health" here) is a natural result of healthy lifestyle, rather than a set of rules to follow.

Gosia

[lissomllama]

Well said, sunshine9.

[Gosia]

Well, I am not fully satisfied yet. If you do not mind, I will continue this for a little longer (if you do, I will talk to myself, naturally). Could someone please explicitly define so called balanced raw diet? I am in particular interested in definitions in which the word "balanced" is not merely a substitute for "healthy", but is a meaningful term relating to some required balance (of what against what, if you know what I mean?). Thanks!!!

Gosia