What the hell does Ravi eat?

I’ve gotten some questions (mostly delivered with raised eyebrows and a smirk) essentially asking what the hell I eat as part of my raw-food-diet nonsense.

Here’s a picture of my “snack food” from last Tuesday during the work day. In addition to this stuff, I started off the day with half of a good-sized honeydew mellon. I also had about 20 almonds or so mid-morning. My lunch was a very large plate of spinach, with some broccoli, cucumbers, carrots and seeds sprinkled on top and a side of tofu (about 1 cup of tofu). I also sprinkled a little balsamic vinegar on top (to help digestion). I didn’t use any oil or dressings (I try to get my fats from nuts, seeds, avacados).

You probably notice that there are 6 bananas in the picture. Yes, I ate six bananas during the day. Yesterday, I had 4 peaches and a few carrots and 4 bannanas. Portion control is something that I’ve had to totally reframe since I’ve started this diet. In our American culture, we are use to buying 5 gallon jugs of ice cream, 2lb blocks of cheese, and just a couple bananas. We feel quite at home having 4-5 slices of pizza or a 6-pack of beer, but cringe at the thought of eating more than one apple! How crazy is that!

When I visited my Vegan Bodybuilder friends in Portland last weekend, we went to a Farm Sanctuary. We spent some time with animals that had been mistreated and rescued from cruel owners or factory farms. We took some very large boxes of fresh organic (of course!) veggies to feed them. I was amazed at how they just mowed down carrot after carrot after carrot! These animals were very healthy and very large. The cow in the pic below weighs 2000lbs and its shoulder was taller my head!

These animals (horses, goats, large pigs, cows) were just gobbling up these veggies. I fed this cow about 10 carrots (as did the other dozen people I was there with) and it just kept coming back for more! It finally clicked that we need to reframe our perspective for what it means to eat fresh fruits and veggies.

If you are hungry, there is nothing wrong with eating two or three bananas. This isn’t about overeating, it is about making sure your body is getting enough of the high quality nutrients that it needs. After all, in ancient cultures, when apples were ripe and ready to eat, did people just eat one or two a week? No, they ate a much higher quantity. Seeing these animals made it seem much more logical to me.

For the past week, I’ve increased the quantity of fruits and veggies I eat (by an order of magnitude) and feel much better. I’ve also noticed that I feel better when I eat more fruits (as opposed to veggies) and eat fewer nuts (though I still do eat a handful of almonds every day).

I’ll also add as an addendum to my last post about benefits I am seeing from this diet, that I’ve noticed my taste buds getting much more sensitive. Whatever I eat is much more flavorful than I have imagined. I grew up eating very very spicy food (South Indian stuff) and I am sure I scorched my taste buds by the time I was 10 years old. I use to throw hot sauce on everything (still do on occasion!). This has been an interesting bit of rehab for my tongue!