I have been fascinated by the whole topic of diet for nearly my entire adult life. When I was 19, I picked up a book by a man named Victoras Kulvinskas entitled, "Survival in the 21st Century". Reading this revolutionary book blew me away. It was the first time I had heard of people living off of diets of only fruit and even of only sunlight and air. The whole idea seemed miraculous to me and inspired me to see the connection between body, mind and spirit in ways that I had never thought of before.

Since that time over 30 years ago, I have been experimenting with changing the foods that I ate and how those foods affected my overall state of mind and consciousness. I am a person who likes to experiment to extremes, so I have done many things that many people would consider to be crazy and even careless. I never really cared about what other people thought of me. I was simply driven by a desire to discover the deeper meaning of life and all its experiences.

After all that experimentation, it has become very clear to me that there is no escaping the fact that what we put into our mouths profoundly affects not only our physical health, but our mental and emotional health as well.

There is a movement that is occurring all over the earth right now of those that share this sentiment. Leading edge scientific research in the area of diet and nutrition is uncovering many truths about how the body and its components work that support this sentiment as well. It is very interesting that even as much as the world's population is getting sicker than ever before, there are small groups of others who are developing the knowledge to become healthier than ever before.

When I was younger and experimenting with different kinds of diets, I did not have the resources to really know what I was doing. Much of my eating habits were done impulsively and in a not very balanced fashion. It was a wild and chaotic ride in many ways and did not generally lead to any kind of deep and sustained sense of well being and/health. Mostly what I was learning was what not to do.

What is incredible in the current period of time is that there are amazing resources available. The internet has been a major catalyst in bringing people and knowledge together in a way that has been extremely powerful. Now, the very highest level of resources and information are literally a push of a button away.

In the next installment of this piece, I will begin to explore some of the more specific things I have learned about diet/nutrition that has transformed my life and my relationship to all things.

Hari OM!

Govinda Kai