Fun with Food

As a yogi, I’ve always been interested in the alchemy of eating. I’ve fasted, tried a variety of diets from carnivorous to vegetarian to raw. I’ve used food as medicine and, more recently have explored a few different approaches to what’s called an anti-inflammation diet.

For Lyme Disease, one of the few proactive actions anyone can take is to eat a diet that promotes healing and won’t aggravate the condition. But the anti-inflammation diet is touted to be good for many more things including weight loss, arthritis, allergies, joint pain and any of a plethora of inflammation disorders.

At a recent visit to a neurologist, I was given the name of a book with yet another take on the diet. The book is The Inflammation Free Diet Plan, by Monica Reinagel. The doctor told me that while he tries to be as unbiased as possible, he is completely biased about this diet. So I went out, got myself a copy and started to read.

At first it seemed daunting. It seemed there was so much to learn, so much to keep track of, and all these new values and figures to add up. As it turns out, there are actually only about 40 pages to read (an easy and interesting read) and the rest is reference charts. It’s not difficult at all. To make it even easier, I made a spreadsheet on my computer to keep track of my intake. I rather enjoy trying to keep my scores in range of my goals. It’s become sort of a game for me to see how great a rating I can come up with while still enjoying my meals and feeling full.

I love a wide variety of food. That makes any diet a lot easier because I only have to choose between something I love and something else I love. This diet is basically the opposite of the Standard American Diet. If you’re serious about your health, you’ll want to stay away from fast foods, highly processed foods and deep fried foods. That said, in all fairness I must add that there is hardly anything you can’t have on this diet - it’s just that you will want to choose with discretion and eat foods to create the anti-inflammation balance you’re after.

As I write this, I am on the road, traveling to Alaska for the summer. I am in Northeastern Montana right now and so far I have had no difficulty staying on the diet while traveling, including an occasional restaurant meal.

Like ayurveda, and yoga, it’s about living a life in balance. The more you practice it, the better you feel, and the easier it gets.

It Beat Me Up

A couple years ago I contracted Lyme Disease. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t know it until many months later. So despite several antibiotic treatments, I’ve been told I’ll just have to live with it. Lyme disease has an abundance of varied symptoms; one of many reasons it is so difficult to diagnose. One of the most sinister of them is the distinct brand of depression it bestows on its victims. It can come on quickly without warning with it’s devouring self-hatred. I’ve been told the leading cause of death from Lyme Disease is suicide.

Lyme cycles. I feel better for a while, then symptoms increase and intensify: pain, aching, heart palpitations, shortness of breath and depression. Last week, while in the throes of another bout of Lyme symptoms, I asked myself the question; what about depression? How do I navigate these dark corridors of hell?

I remembered another brilliant teaching story. This one, as far as I know, is a true story. Vipassana is a form of meditation involving concentration on the body or its sensations, and the insight that this provides. A beloved vipassana meditation teacher was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. There was a large conference for vipassana meditators at his center. Realizing the uncertainty of the situation, his followers nonetheless asked him to be the keynote speaker for the event. They knew it may well be the last time he spoke publicly. When he approached the podium on that day, with the room filled with hundreds, maybe even thousands of earnest listeners, his mind went blank. He stood there quietly as the audience waited, attentive. Time ticked on and still, no words. After what must have seemed an eternity, he leaned into the mic and said quietly: “feeling ashamed” ... silence... “feeling embarrassed”... “breathing”... “steady”... “just this breath”... and on it went. Basically what he was doing was demonstrating how the meditation carries through into every moment. He was not getting caught up in emotional or mental knots. Instead he was staying fully present and letting his heart be touched by whatever came up from moment to moment, without judgment or criticism.

It was, perhaps the best speech he could have given to that group on that day. The response of that one man, already in the throes of Alzheimer's, remaining lucid and calm in the most stressful of situations, continues to ripple outward, touching the lives of people he will never meet. He helped me through a tough night and I've never met him and don't even know his name.