By Maddie Zins
Staff Columnist
Recently a friend of mine on campus decided to become a raw food vegan. I was, instinctively against it. I’m a bit of a hypocrite in saying this because most of the food I eat is uncooked and a lot of it excludes animals and animal products. I’m a vegetarian and although it’s easy enough to just not eat meat in the dining hall. I wondered, how one can sustain a healthy diet beneath the constraints of raw foods veganism in our dining hall.
A lot of what makes up the raw foods vegan diet is not available in the dining hall. Without staple foods like uncooked broccoli, avocados, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, almonds, ground flaxseed, cauliflower, whole grains—you get the point. Without access to these heavy-hitters on the raw foods vegan diet, a raw foods vegan will suffer depletions in vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, Iodine, calcium, omega-3 fats, and more. Suffice it to say that this causes a fair few problems in your body.
The ironic thing, at least to me, is that many people who chose to follow the raw foods path are people who are looking to improve their health, but because they don’t do it the most mindful way, they are actually running down their own bodies.
Instead of providing themselves with the best, most natural diet of the best, most natural foods to force their vitamins and minerals to reach equilibrium, they skim over the foods that might be harder to come by but are essential to reaching the raw foods ideal of health and force themselves to become malnourished.
I do not mean to chide the dining hall for not supporting the lifestyles of raw foods vegans—since there aren’t many on this campus, it seems it might be counter intuitive to cater to the particular needs of raw foods vegans while trying to also feed a student body that is predominantly made up of omnivores. They still try.
At almost every meal there is a “vegan cutlet” or “sausage” of some sort that appeases the average vegan’s need for soy or tofu in a day and the dark leafy veggies (some of which are locally grown) are always available at brunch, lunch, and dinner to provide delight to the raw eaters. And, of course, there is always the refrigerator by My Pantry that is full of Almond Milk, Sunbutter and other tasty substitutes for vegan eaters, but these things to do not substitute the building blocks of a raw foods diet that come from rapseed oil, flaxseed, whole grains, and various nuts and legumes.
Despite my having discouraged my friend (who ultimately quit it about a week and a half into the project) from being a raw foods vegan, I applaud anyone who attempts but strongly suggest for them to supplement their diet with nutrients not provided by the dining hall.
I can’t say that I’d be one but, I do know that the point of this eating regime is mindful consumption and that is a concept I can get behind entirely. Like Tich Naht Han says in “Peace is Every Step,” “eating mindfully is an important practice of meditation. We can eat in a way that we restore the cookie of our childhood [or peaceful existence without worries]. The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” Happy eating!