Life and Spirituality

  W hile just plain steamed vegetables are nice in a traditional western dinner of roast, sausages or grill, these must remain side dishes on the dinner plate. However, increasingly based on new health studies or for spiritual reasons many are shunning or reducing meat in their diets. In this latter case it is possible to make a main dish out of vegetables provided one uses the right recipes for stir fried vegetables; these can make a delicious and wholesome main dish on a dinner plate. In this latter case just one or two hard boiled eggs, a salad and buttered bread on the side makes a complete and nourishing dinner that delights mind, body and soul. The following tips and spices will be helpful for any interested reader The Simple Stir fry Stir fried vegetables are prepared by heating a little butter, clarified butter or cooking oil in a pan or pot and then adding chosen seasoning and vegetables to it, followed by a little stirring and cooking with a cover in the pa

The Yoga of Food https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food#/media/File:Foods_(cropped).jpg A round 2500 years ago Gautam Buddha advocated compassion and non-violence to all life including animals. This led to a large number of persons adopting a vegetarian life style in South Asia. In recent times the concept has spread further, across the globe. A traditional vegetarian diet consists of not consuming any meat or fish. However milk and its products are consumed freely. In a traditional vegetarian diet eggs are not consumed since these too are regarded as a flesh food. Vegans on the other hand go further and consume no animal product at all including milk. Some years ago, this author proposed the concept of Loveganism that included eliminating or at least minimizing violence to all life, not just animal life but also plant life. Lovegan foods are foods that conform to this principle. Since the introduction of the concept online a few years ago, it seems that some have ta

A Vegetarian (lovegan style) dinner S everal earlier articles in this blog have reported that it seems a vegetarian diet is a healthier one provided it is well balanced and that it leads to lower incidence of diseases with age. It was also pointed out that some of the strongest and longest lived persons on the planet are those who are vegetarians or nearly so. However this claim was based merely on anecdotal and intuitive evidence and not on a scientific study. Now a detailed scientific study backs these claims. The study was conducted by Oxford University. To quote from a report online at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Vegetarians-lead-a-healthier-life-than-meat-eaters-Oxford-study/articleshow/50226456.cms “The study, conducted by the Oxford University and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is one of the largest analysis piloted on the subject and involved two prospective studies that covered 60,310 persons living in the Unit

Goosefoot in Yoghurt with hot buttered unleavened bread and a herbal chutney   Scroll down for recipes of items in the picture T he following four types of food if included as part of one’s regular meals would lead to simplicity yet good health for most humans as regards diet is concerned in the view of this author and these do not include meat although one may add eggs Food from seeds of grasses called food grains and the best of these are wheat and rice. A few are allergic to the gluten in wheat and they may choose from a range of other grass seeds Leafy green vegetable Milk or milk products such as yoghurt, processed and unprocessed cheese, butter A raw easily palatable food such as fruits and salad vegetables In this selection, milk products are the protein source. In case that is not available, protein must be be made up from other things such as lentil beans, fish or eggs. Between these four groups of food a human may find all the carbohydrates, proteins, vi

Sushil Kumar (wrestling Champion), the strongest man in the world has been a vegetarian all his life   During my student days in Canada, influenced by eastern philosophies, a friend became a vegetarian. He had developed the notion that being a vegetarian meant not eating, meat, fish and eggs and eating vegetables instead. It goes without saying that he became weaker by the months until explained to him, that vegetables is something both meat eaters and vegetarians have to eat for good health and if he has stopped meat he must replace that with other protein matter not just more of vegetables. This friend studied the matter and took to beans until he began to phart like a cow and then I had to intervene again to explain to him that beans cause flatulence and will not help him to acquire a robust health although he might survive in an insipid and unpleasant sort of a way. He has since learned of the right and healthy way to become a vegetarian. Some of the strongest, hea

The Almond Tree F ood for life comes from life, one form of life deriving its food from another life form and in some cases even their own kind. Humans acquire food from plants and animals, two different kinds of complimentary life forms. In acquiring this food, violence is often perpetuated. While it seems natural for most animals to acquire their food any way they can, humans, who are capable of reasoned thinking, may wish to deliberate if violence is an essential part of acquiring food or if food may be acquired without any violence. Perhaps as humans evolve further away from their animal past, they shall learn of non-violent ways to meet all their basic needs that include food. The central question is, if it is possible to get fully nutritious and healthy food for mankind without the need to perpetuate any violence at all. Whenever humans eat meat as food, an animal has to be killed. Civilized humans attempt to kill an animal in the least painful manner but violen

J ust as we have persons who belong to some religious sect or other or none at all, humans can be divided on the basis of their food choices in broad categories – vegans, lovegans, vegetarians or others who eat fish and meat from various animals without any philosophical compunctions but with some preferences for the animals they choose e.g. some will eat cats and dogs too but others will not eat them. Many in India will consider eating or even killing a cow a most unholy thing to do a because it too is a loved domestic pet and a motherly one at that  since it provides milk for children and others. The prohibition on eating or killing a cow is because that is unholy, repugnant and unsacred act not especially because a cow is sacred. All life is sacred. The assertion that cows are not eaten merely because they are sacred is a western twist. Cows roam about in Indian neighborhoods just as cats might in western one. However, in  recent years it has been restricted in cities since i

Drying Gossefoot leaves T oday as I spread some goosefoot weed on a dining table to dry, the thought occurred that it would be a good idea to share a recipe called Mother’s Bounty Bread with readers. The name was made up for this post seeing that in an earlier post we described the Mother’s Bounty Chutney made from coconuts and almonds which is an excellent accompaniment for this bread. However it has been a common form of bread in our home for several decades. The White Goosefoot weed (called Bathua in Hindi or Chenopodium album technically) grows wild in many parts of the world. In Asia and India in particular, it creeps into wheat fields and is removed continuously by small farmers for a healthy dish or even as cattle feed since it is so profuse and so healthy for man and animal. It is available for free in the countryside. However, it comes up only for a few months a year. Therefore, it is a great idea to dry some for the rest of the year. To do that on a small scale

Balck eyed peas - Lobia beans A vegetarian diet, especially one that includes eggs, milk/ milk products has been described as a healthy diet in many articles of this blog. It was given the name lovegan food as different from a vegan one that does not include eggs and milk. While leafy green vegetables such as spinach are great for providing many of the nutrients a human needs for good health, when meat is completely or largely eliminated from one’s diet, it is necessary to replace it with other food items that will provide protein in order for the diet to be a balanced and healthy. Milk products and eggs are some of the sources from which this protein can come. However it becomes necessary to include other sources of protein too. One problem with eggs is that although one or two a day is great, a larger consumption per day appears to be bad for health. Milk products such as cheese and yoghurt or just plain milk can provide the rest of the protein active healthy humans need