Faking Salad?

While visiting Washington, DC recently, I played tourist and spent time sightseeing. I visited the National Zoo, and loved seeing the pandas, went to the Smithsonian Museums, and to our nation’s many monuments. After a full day of taking in the sights this gal is ready to chow down. There are no healthy food options to be found near the mall for a veggie gal like me. Forget organic. Can this NYC health nut find a decent salad in our nation’s capitol? Yes! It may not be organic, but I located a Chop’t salad joint in the Chinatown area of DC. Every evening after the museums closed you’d find me there digging into a salad with all my favorite picks such as baby spinach, cucumber, avocado, sweet onion, celery, and tomatoes. To liven it up I’d add some roasted asparagus, beets or roasted peppers. Simple dressings were offered.

Each night I observed the crowd and felt trilled to watch a long line form of people waiting for their salad to be made. I thought to myself ”This is great! People are happy to eat salad for dinner just like me! I have found a tribe here in good old DC!

On my last night eating at the salad joint I found myself sitting near the counter where people order their food. I couldn’t help over hearing what people were ordering. The orders consisted of the Cobb Salad or the Asian Salad with chicken and extra cheese. Oh my god! I didn’t notice what people were eating. I dare peer over my clear plastic bowl to find the dreaded land of beige salads. Order after order before my eyes consisted of chicken, egg whites and cheese with iceberg lettuce and a couple of token tomatoes. On my other side there was a ‘salad’ consisting of eggs, cheese and bacon with iceberg lettuce. Can you even call this a salad? It’s a fraud! I felt myself become flushed. A sense of loneliness swept over me. There I was with my very colorful array of salad greens, and vegetables with absolutely nothing beige in my bowl. I am still the odd one in the crowd even at the salad joint!

My taste buds love the variety of favor that vegetables offer the palette. When we move towards a cleaner diet consisting of vegetable juices, fruits, vegetables, sprouts, nuts and seeds our tastes improve and simple foods have more flavor. When we are used to eating processed foods, overly salty food, refined sweeteners, and fried food we will crave more of that. Look at a salad after eating a plate of french fries and I guarantee that will not be the choice of the day.

The amount of protein and fat consisted in these fake salads will surely contribute to heart disease, obesity, cancer, stokes, high blood pressure and diabetes. The typical American diet now weighs in at more than 3,700 calories per day dominated by meat and animal products. Meat, cheese, dressing and avocado contained at one individual meal supplies too much fat! We have been conditioned to eat a certain way and we are creatures of habit. It is hard to break old habits.

Are we all in denial that we are being healthy eaters at the pseudo-salad joint and fooling ourselves that we can get away with bacon in our salad? I mean no offense to anyone who eats animal foods. My message consists of this. Please eat one serving of one animal food daily at most. Make your selection of dairy, cheese, yogurt, meat, fish, chicken, or eggs. Pick ONE choice, only at ONE meal DAILY. Please choose an animal that has been grass-fed, free-range, unpasteurized from a local farm. Please never from a factory farm. Factory farm animals are not treated well, the conditions are not sanitary, and pollutes the environment. Raising animals for food is very, very energy intensive. Indeed, livestock production worldwide is responsible for a whooping 18% of the world’s total greenhouse gases. Yes, that is actually more then what gas emissions cause of the world’s cars, buses, planes and trains combined. Want to save the planet? Then go Vegan. P.S.- If we stop eating pigs then Swine Flu will go away and no one needs to get sick or have mandatory vaccines!

On a positive note I am happy to say many of the people observed were practicing good food combining principles. They ate protein with vegetables. They included no addition of a starchy food such as bread. Bravo!

What does this Colon Hydro-therapist say about this topic? When we eat animal foods we are not able to digest it very well due to our Physiology. Our digestion is at a disadvantage without enough of a supply of hydrochloric acid, or uric acid to break down animal foods properly. When the food reaches the colon there’s trouble. Animal protein contains no fiber and the colon needs fiber that helps to bulk up waste to form stool. Without fiber the colon’s use of peristalsis must work excessively hard to move the small amount of waste through the Intestines. Peristalsis is the ‘action’ that helps to make a bowel movement happen. There’s excessive pressure generated on the bowel wall created by gases. Eventually over ones lifetime of eating animal foods or processed foods conditions such as colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, diverticulosis, polups, and colon cancer can result.

Is American ready to go vegan? Not yet, but things are changing. America Wake Up! Hello Al Gore we need a sequel on climate change that recommends Veganism.

Make your salads satisfying and tasty by adding: avocado, nuts, seeds, calorically dense veggies such as celery, cabbage, fennel, grated carrots, beets, or raw sauerkraut. Also: fresh herbs, spices, seasonings, seaweed and more. Include a side order of quinoa, millet, or steamed potato. Consume salad in a bowl rather then a plate. Fill-er-up!

http://www.donnaperrone.com http://www.gravityeastvillage.com