Raw Vegetarian Diet - Experiment scaled down

I started experimenting "raw vegetarian diet", a few months ago. I liked the idea of eating uncooked vegetables and they really tasted good. However, I couldn't sustain my experiment for more than couple of months. There were several challenges that I faced during the experiment:

(Also read: Why am I a Vegan?)

• Vegetables that we get in the market/shop aren't "fresh" most of the times
• It takes lot of time to eat raw vegetables
• It also takes a lot of time for us to "digest" raw vegetables
• Raw vegetables generate lot of gas and stomach is always 'heavy'
• The craving for 'cooked' food is hard to control :-)

To add to all the above issues, I faced a severe indigestion problem for a few days and I decided to scale down my experiment significantly. Instead of trying to become a 100% raw vegetarian, I started to include more raw vegetables/fruits in my diet. Now, I'm getting the best of both the worlds - cooked as well as raw food. For the last several months, I'm able to sustain this diet model without any issues.

Also read:

A journey from non-vegetarian to raw-vegetarian
Why am I a Vegan?
Sunday - a day of mass murders in India

A journey from Non-Vegetarian to Raw-Vegetarian

What is in a diet? If you are conscious about your health, fitness, and environment, you should be conscious about your diet too. Recently, I started experimenting Raw Vegetarian diet and I'm loving it. The diet makes me feel more fresh, healthy, and energetic.

My journey as a vegetarian started in 2000. I became a vegetarian for 3 reasons. First of all, I didn't have a desire for non-vegetarian food. Second of all, the horrifying scenes of animals getting killed in front of my eyes during my childhood days, had an influence on my decision to be a vegetarian. Third of all, when I read Mahatma Gandhiji's "My Experiments with Truth" in 2000, I decided to give up my meat eating habit, completely. (Also read: Why am I a Vegan? )

People wonder, "How did you manage to be a vegetarian, in US"? If you are under the influence of your taste buds, it is hard, to survive in US being a vegetarian. Especially, when you are traveling to places or not having food at home. If you are ready to eat whatever is available, you can manage in US easily. In fact, every restaurant in US has something for a vegetarian. You can customize your food. You can go up to the extreme of ordering a Chicken Burger without the Chicken.

A modern diet has deprived us from enjoying the freshness of hundreds of vegetables, fruits, and nuts that nature has provided us. Many of the things that I eat today were hardly part of my diet when I was a non-vegetarian. I have been practicing Vegan diet for the last 3+ years. I'm staying fit and healthy - no visits to the hospital, except for yearly health checkups. I've now started my experiments with Raw-Vegetarian diet, by reducing the intake of cooked food and increasing the intake of raw vegetables, fruits and nuts.

People think that 'pure vegetarian' diet lacks Protein, Calcium and other Vitamins/minerals available in milk/meat based diet. If you are making conscious choices of vegetable based diet, you can eliminate the need for non-vegetarian food completely. For example, my everyday diet includes Soymilk, Sprouted beans/nuts, Spinach, and a variety of nuts, fresh vegetables, and fruits. It provides me enough protein, calcium, vitamins and minerals.

I was once challenged by a friend of mine, who is a born vegetarian. He said pointing to his huge belly "I've been a vegetarian from childhood days. I get sick quite often and I don't feel healthy/fit". Being a vegetarian alone doesn't make you fit. What happens when you don't service your car/bike  for a long period of time? The vehicle loses its fitness - engine problems, brake/battery issues, clutch/gear problems and over a period of time gives you low mileage. Similarly, you need to service your body regularly. A good diet should also be complimented by a proper exercise program. Also, feeding your stomach with fatty/non-healthy vegetarian food is equivalent of fueling your car with a low grade petrol. The mileage/performance will also be low. Have you heard of "Garbage in Garbage out"? It holds good for your diet also :)  (Also read: Sunday - a day of mass murders in India )

If you would like learn more about Vegan or Raw Vegetarian Diet, you can read/listen to the following:

HappyCow - Becoming Vegetarian
Veganism in a NutShell
GoVeg - Podcast
Raw Vegetarian Food/Diet 

(Also read: Raw Vegetarian Diet - Experiment scaled down)

How to reduce the impact of climate change & global warming?

Global warming, climate changes and their impact are talked about in lengths, in all forms of media - TV, Radio, Newspapers & Internet. "Going Green" is the new buzz word. What should we do, to reduce the impact of climate change and global warming? Do we have to go back to the ancient world and live in forests, eating just fruits and vegetables? Do we have to sacrifice the pleasures of modern day life, to save this earth? How can we preserve the world we know, for our grand kids and our grand kids' grand kids?

(Also read: A Journey from Non-Vegetarian to Raw-Vegetarian)

A friend of mine forwarded me a "Youtube" video which prompted me to write this blog. This is the video of a young girl who addressed a UN meeting on the issue of environment.

What are some simple changes that you can bring in your life to reduce the impact of climate change & global warming? Here are 5 things you can do to reduce the impact of climate change & global warming.

1) Planting trees around your home or in some of the empty lands that you own. Think about the number of trees that we have to bring down during our life time. Just look around ... identify the number of wooden items around you - house/office structures, tables, chairs, cabinets, papers/books/notepads, paper towels, all the way to tiny little match sticks. All these things are made out of wood. So, how many trees have we planted since we were born to compensate for this?

2) Saying NO to paper/plastic bags during shopping. Carrying "cloth bags" to shops (and re-using plastic bags several times) reduces the carbon foot print. Since some forms of plastic cannot be recylced easily, the use of plastic creates a huge problem. Moreover, the cost involved to recycle a plastic bag is more than the cost involved to manufacture one. So, the manufacturers don't show interest in recycling plastic bags. A weekly shopping trip results in at least 10 - 15 plastic bags. In a year, we would've used nearly 800 bags. Imagine how much plastic use we can reduce if we just start to carry "cloth bags" to shop.

3) Wisely using water - Not wasting water and properly using it (during our showers, mouth wash, hand wash, watering lawns etc.,). Even a state like California declared drought last year because of the lack of rains. Water saved is water produced.

4) Avoiding/Minimizing the consumption of animal food. It takes more resources (land/water/fodder etc.,) to produce animal food than what is required to produce grains/vegetables. "There's nothing so pervasively damaging to our environment - and to world hunger - than eating animal products". This article gives you lots of facts regarding how animal food impacts the environment.

A friend of mine asked me "If everyone becomes a vegetarian, what happens to the ecosystem? Who'll maintain the food pyramid/chain?". My response to him was simple. "Today, do you think humans are letting these poor creatures to breed at their normal pace? We (humans) are growing thousands & thousands of cattle/birds (& forcing them to breed in an abnormal way) just to satisfy our appetite. If we let them to breed on their 'normal pace', then I believe the 'layers' underneath humans in the food pyramid/chain, will help to ensure the balance in the ecosystem".

Also read: Sunday - a day of mass murders in India,   Why am I a Vegan?

5) Drive your motor vehicle only when it is absolutely required. This is easier said than done. However, we can bring small changes to our lifestyle such as combining multiple trips into one, taking a walk to nearby places, using public transportation, car pooling, and biking.

Start to educate the people you know about climate change/global warming and their impact. You might have heard this several times during your life - "You'll learn a lot only when you start to teach". When you begin to teach others about global warming/climate change, you tend to learn more about it. This will motivate you to strictly adhere to your 'environmental friendly' life style.

Many a times, we don't realize the seriousness of the climate change. We may not see the end of the world during our life time. However, think of our grand kids or our grand kids' grand kids. They are going to live in a world that is completely torn apart by the global warming. Some of the small islands like Maldives will vanish out of the map because of increasing sea levels (due to the melting of glaciers).

Changing our life style to be 'environmental friendly' is definitely tough. But, if we are conscious about the impacts of environmental change/global warming, we can easily bring small changes into our life style. We all know that 'small droplets can form an ocean'. Why not make our small contribution towards making this world greener? 

Let us preserve the world we love/live for our grand kids & our grand kids' grand kids. 

Sunday - a day of mass murders in India

It is 4th of Oct, 2009. 2 days after the world celebrated Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. I stepped out of my house for my early morning walk. There is a meat shop near my house. The shop had a few skinned & decapitated goats hanging in the front. A huge truck was unloading carts of chicken into the shop. Each cart (of 5 ft x 5 ft size) carried about 10 chicken. There were about 15 carts. The chicken were closely packed and some of them were already half dead.There were flies buzzing all around the shop. Anyone who crosses the shop couldn't avoid staring at the dirty look of the shop and the bad small that comes out of it. Despite all of this, the shop was very crowded - with people who are buying chicken/mutton for their Sunday meal. This is a very common scene in India, on Sundays. Sunday is a day of mass murdering of goats/chicken in India.

The workers in the meat shop are not educated about cruelty to animals. Chicken are kept in small carts until their D-day arrives. Those poor creatures hardly find space to even stand comfortably inside those carts. Finally, the workers kill them by twisting their neck or by chopping-off their head. Even a prisoner with death sentence is treated properly in this world. Doctors ensure that the prisoner is in good health before being sentenced. However, these little creatures aren't treated properly. They haven't committed any crimes. They haven't done harm to others. But, they are killed in large volumes to satisfy the appetite of humans, who are higher-up in the food chain.

People also don't care about hygiene. The place in which these little creatures are kept is so untidy and unpleasant. There is always flies & crows surrounding them. The meat shop owners even preserve some of the unsold meat to sell in the next day. Buyers cannot ensure that the meat is of high quality. It is quite easy for people to get sick by consuming such meat. Also, this unhygienic environment is not good for the workers in the meat shop. Look at the short Youtube video below, to see the things in action:



The nation praises Gandhiji for his acts. But, somehow, the nation fails to recognize the importance of adopting vegetarian diet. Becoming a vegetarian is not tough, at all. I've successfully adopted vegetarian diet for nearly 10 years, now. I'm very active & healthy. I can proudly say that I haven't had any major illness/disease.

If you want to lead a healthy life... If you are against cruelty to animals... BE A VEGETARIAN !!!

Related post:

Why am I a Vegan?

Why am I a Vegan?

Today we had a Pizza party at work. Everyone seemed to enjoy the hot & delicious Pizza. A colleague asked me "How are Indian Pizzas?". I told him, "They look great. But, I didn't eat them". He asked me "Why?". I told him that I'm adopting a Vegan diet. He then asked me "Why are you a Vegan?". Many folks have asked this question, in the last 3 weeks. Many folks have asked this question, in the last 3 years.

(Also read: A Journey from Non-Vegetarian to Raw-Vegetarian)

Why am I a Vegan? I don't think there is one specific answer to this question.

During my childhood days, I used to visit my grandparents' village. I've seen innocent little creatures dying in front of my eyes. I've seen goats getting 'chopped-off' in the name of 'sacrifice to God'. There were instances where I was asked to hold the legs of the goat tight, when its neck was cut. I've seen blood oozing out of the goat's neck after its head was chopped-off. I've seen the body of the goat shaking for a few seconds before it died. I've seen men killing chicken by twisting their neck. I think these things had some impact on my decision to be a Vegetarian. (Also read: Sunday - a day of mass murders in India)

Wanna see what happens to these poor creatures before they get into your burger or chicken 65?



I was a Vegetarian for most part of my childhood. I used to eat "egg", though. I lost significant weight when I went to college. Some of my friends told that I can regain the lost weight & develop muscles if I become a meat eater. I started eating meat again in 1997.

I was a meat eater till early part of 2000. During that time, I had a chance to read Gandhi's autobiography - "My experiments with truth". I got motivated by Gandhi's determination to be a vegetarian. He got closer to death, because of not eating meat & not drinking milk. He then started consuming goat's milk. Poor guy, he didn't have alternatives to milk-based diet, at that time. I decided to be a vegetarian. This time, I gave up eating egg also. I continued to consume milk-products.

I'm a vegetarian since 2000. I was able to stick to my eating habits. I got married in 2005, and luckily, my wife is also a vegetarian. Having been a vegetarian for quite sometime, I got bored. In mid 2006, I got a desire to 'experiment' a new eating style. I wanted to put my self-control to test. I wanted to go to the next-level of diet. I decided to adopt a Vegan diet. I told myself that I should give up only when I run into health issues because of not consuming milk products. Fortunately, there were milk-substitutes in USA. I started consuming 'fortified' Soy milk. I included spinach & more vegetables/fruits in my everyday diet. I managed to be a vegan for 3 years.

I returned back to India in May, 2009. I was doubtful, if I would be able to continue my Vegan diet in India. I was surprised to see that 'calcium-enriched' Soy milk is available in Chennai. I'm continuing to be a Vegan. I've also substituted my favorite 'Soy Cafe Latte' with 'Lemon/Black Tea'.

My wife takes good care of me, by cooking healthy vegetable food. I'm very thankful to my wife. If not for her, I cannot continue to be a Vegan & at the same time maintain my health. The journey continues ...

Also read:

What can you do to reduce the impact of climate change & global warming?
Subway experience - How much can you change?