By: Amadea Morningstar RPP, RPE
ENJOY CLEANSING AND BUILDING SALADS THIS SPRING
Welcome to a fresh season of vibrant vegetables and fruits, so much a part of both Dr. Stone’s Purifying and Health Building diets. I like to call them food processes. This implies that as we’re exploring them, it’s a work in process, adapting to our own needs, finding what works best in our own bodies and lives. “Diet” often signifies a set structure we’re supposed to fit ourselves into, which is not how I see these two food processes at all. They’re alive, and meant to be applied toward our healthy needs. Yet to be historically accurate, Dr. Stone referred to both the Purifying diet and the Health Building diet in those terms.
A little more Polarity Therapy Energetic Nutrition history: Dr. Stone developed these diets to meet the needs of his patients and students in the years that he worked, from the early 20th century until his death in 1981 in the east Punjab, India. Health Building: The Conscious Art of Living Well LINK BELOW detailed his instructions about food and stretching postures for lay people; it was first published in 1985 by the Randolph Stone 1976 Trust. If you search the excellent resources in Digital Dr. Stone LINK BELOW, you can find information about his original practices related to Purifying and Health Building foods. Yet you won’t find any formal mention of the “Gourmet Vegetarian” diet that later became a core of some Polarity Therapy cuisine, still used today.
Soon after Health Building was released, the Murrieta Hot Springs Vegetarian Cookbook came out, created by a dynamic group of Polarity Therapy-oriented people comprising the Murrieta Foundation staff. Murrieta Hot Springs, for those of us lucky enough to enjoy it in its heyday, was a destination health resort and spa north of San Diego with healthy food, and a wide range of movement, “natural health theory”, and bodywork classes.
In the 1987 edition of Murrieta Hot Springs Vegetarian Cookbook, the authors stated, “In our programs we use three diets as taught by Dr. Randolph Stone….These three diets called Purifying, Health-Building, and Gourmet Vegetarian, offer broad and easily-understood principles for effective food management. In this book you’ll find each recipe identified by its diet classification.” The book is a creative, simple way to learn about these three processes and what they include. Gourmet Vegetarian does not include eggs, in line with Dr. Stone’s thinking. If you want to use it simply for the Purifying and Health Building recipes, this is easy to do. The cookbook is great, with lots of inspiring recipes, including fun stuff like Purifying vegetable pizza and stuffed artichokes. LINK BELOW
Scrolling into the present moment, I’m inviting you to think “salad” as extravagantly as you like: sprouts, spinach, butter lettuce, fresh edible flowers (organic pansies and violets are poking their faces out), grated carrots, beets, jicama. Protein-rich items like sunflower seeds, nuts, beans, hemp seeds. And delicious easy-to-make homemade dressings. Here’s a couple to explore below.
Bon appetite!
TARRAGON HONEY MUSTARD SALAD DRESSING
Time: 10 minutes
Serves 6
Purifying, Health Building, and Gourmet Vegetarian
1 teaspoon dried tarragon or 1 Tbsp. fresh
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ – ½ teaspoon salt (skip for Purifying)
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or pippali
1 clove of garlic, minced (optional, can skip for Pitta)
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard (Purifying)
or 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (HB, GV)
2 teaspoons raw honey
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Blend all ingredients together in a blender until smooth. Serve over a multi-colored salad of your making. Appropriate for cleansing.
This recipe is used with permission from Ayurvedic Cooking for Westerners, Morningstar. LINK below
CREAMY TAHINI SALAD DRESSING
Time: 10 minutes
Serves 4
Health Building and Gourmet Vegetarian
1 ½ tablespoons raw sesame tahini (HB) or roasted tahini (GV)
1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 – 2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 – 4 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (optional)
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Stir all ingredients together with a fork or blend in a blender. Serve over the salad of your choice. Used for building.
Note: This substantial dressing can fill a void, being rich in calcium, protein, iron, and fat. If you’re starting to head for more sweet-tasting foods as you purify or health-build, this dressing can slow you down and provide satiation without sweet taste. It’s got some ballast.
This recipe is adapted with permission from Ayurvedic Cooking for Westerners, Morningstar. LINK below
Tossed Salad with Flowers image thanks to Allison Cekala
I’ll be teaching a 2-week course on Dynamics of Ayurvedic Nutrition: The Mahagunas in Skillful Healing this coming April 21 and 28. If you’d like to expand your communication skills in working with clients, food, and health counseling, this could be just the course for you. Live online. LINK below
LINKS
https://amadeamorningstar.net/product/ayurvedic-cooking-westerners-1995/
https://amadeamorningstar.net/dynamics-of-ayurvedic-nutrition/