An overview of various diets including Standard American Diet → Paleo → Mediterranean → Vegetarian → Vegan → Whole Food, Plant-Based (WFPB) → WFPB-SOS → Nature Cure (Naturopathy).

Raw Foods and Fasting Protocols are tricky to execute in the modern world. Very few scientific studies exist, communities are small-sized.

An overview of various food categories.

Modern foods from both animal and plant sources are very different from what our ancestors consumed! Through selective breeding, we have created new types of animals and plants. In some cases, they don't even look like the original family!

The Sequence of Eliminations helps me in two ways: (a) What should I eat when I'm sick? (b) If I'm not able to follow system X, then what's the least change I can introduce so that I'm 'close to' X?

Standard American Diet (SAD) → Paleo & Keto Diets → Mediterranean Diet.

A 'Healthy' Vegetarian Diet has no Processed Foods, Meat or Fish. Dairy (and sometimes, Eggs) are included. Among the 3 SOS Extracts (Salt, Oil, Sugar), two are often retained: Oil and Salt.

Considering how milk is produced in the world today — both in large-sized, corporation-owned factory farms and in small-sized, family-owned diary farms — is it okay to call ourselves 'non-violent' when we also participate in milk and milk products consumption?

A Vegan Diet is adopted by those with compassion for all sentient beings, especially animals. So Meat, Fish, Dairy and Eggs are eliminated. In addition, if we also eliminate Processed Foods and Sugar, we get a 'Healthy' Vegan Diet.

A Whole Food Plant-Based Diet (WFPB) has emerged in the West through decades of research into nutrition science. Animal Products are completely eliminated. Among the SOS Extracts (Sugar, Oil, Salt), only Salt is consumed in small quantities.

A WFPB-SOS or (WFPB SOS-Free) Diet is the same as WFPB Diet with Salt also eliminated.

A Nature Cure (Naturopathy) Diet is like WFPB-SOS (Whole Food, Plant-Based without Salt, Sugar and Oils). However, there is a shift in emphasis: vegetables and fruits are eaten in abundance. Grains and beans are reduced.

Many variants of Raw Vegan Diet abound. An SOS-Free Raw Vegan diet has no-Sugar, no-Oil, no-Salt.

New Diet System is a fascinating raw vegan system in Gujarat, India. Many people report curing themselves of debilitating diseases by adopting this food sytem.

In 2019, a friend visited TrueNorth Health Center in Santa Rosa, California. She was given an 8-day fasting protocol. This protocol was a stepping stone for me to understand various diets and fasts!

It's possible to fast by consuming only raw vegetables and fruits for a few days. Often, a few nuts and seeds are included.

Juice Fasting rose in popularity in USA after the documentary 'Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead' came out in 2010. The idea is to consume primarily vegetable juices (with a little bit of fruit) for many days and weeks.

I don't have personal experience with such fasts.

Water-Only Fasting is a difficult exercise. In the modern world, given the kinds of foods that most of us consume regularly (meats, dairy, oils, salts, sugars), a water-only fast could be potentially dangerous. However, there are some institutions where medically guided water-only fasts are administered.

During a dry fast, we consume no food, no water. Few people practice dry fasting today. It was a well recognized intervention in many cultures in the past. I'm not aware of any institution where medically-supervised dry fasting is carried out. However, it continues to be practiced by several communities worldwide.

When we shift from non-WFPB food habits to WFPB-NO food habits, we unwittingly embark on an emotional journey and a spiritual journey as well :)

Prevention and healing are complex processes. Food is a critical factor but not the only one.