33 Our taste and desire may suggest still different proportions, ranging from very little beans to only beans. In any switch from a diet plentiful in meat to one plentiful in beans, however, it is a good idea to take it slowly. The intestines may need six months to a year before they can digest beans comfortably. As a protein food, beans are weighty and keep us tied to the material world. In excess, they could cause the tissues to become hard and dense, much as meat does. 34 It was perhaps for that reason that Pythagoras, the Greek mathematician and philosopher, who was also one of the earliest known vegetarians, encouraged his followers to abstain from beans. Yet all things have two sides, and the weightiness of beans has its distinct advantages: In a vegetarian diet that may have a tendency to carry us upward, causing us to feel light and expanded, beans provide the material anchor of protein and thereby keep us plugged into the reality around us. ROOTS
• Contractive
• Alkalizing
• Warming( when cooked)
• Moderate breakdown food Sprouting downward from the seed, the root turns away from the light, burrowing deeper and deeper into the cool, moist earth.
It anchors the upward-growing shoot, drawing nourishment from the soil and sending it toward the sky. It represents stability and strength. Some roots are so powerful that they can crack rocks that stand in the way of their growth. We humans mirror the plant structure, but in reverse: While plants grow from the seed up, we grow from the head down. Although I’ m reasoning more in poetic than strictly scientific terms, some correspondence can be established between root and head. When we stand at ease, our head, the seat of identity, points upward, while our trunk and extremities point downward. In plants the root, which gives strength and stability, reaches down for the center of the earth, the trunk and branches grow upward. The root system is usually much smaller than the rest of the plant; our head, too, is much smaller than the rest of our body, in a proportion ranging roughly from 1:6 to 1:8. Another bit of South American folk wisdom— that consuming roots helps to establish our identity— begins to make sense. Note in this connection, the popularity of carrots among children, who unconsciously might be involved in sorting out their private identities. Because roots are contractive, grow in darkness and quiet, are connected to the earth, and draw in and distribute nourishment, they may also stimulate those same qualities in us when we eat them: contractiveness, steadiness, earthiness, and the ability to nourish. There are two very different kinds of roots: those that are used as vegetables and those that are used as condiments. The most popular roots that are eaten as vegetables are sweet ones, such as carrots, parsnips, turnips, celery root, and rutabaga. Burdock, a wild root, is very thin, long, and extremely hard to dig up. Its resilience, hardiness, and resistance to cold weather are reputedly transferred to those who consume it. Roots that are commonly used as condiments or as side dishes include radishes, onions, garlic, daikon, ginger, and horseradish. They are contractive, but have a sharp, expansive flavor— a particularly striking union of opposites. Because of this they promote“ making whole”( uniting opposites) or healing. And in fact these pungent roots are often prized for their medicinal qualities. They are considered especially helpful in clearing up congestion and excess mucus: The contractive accumulation of matter is dispersed by the penetrating sharpness of the root. In traditional ethnic cuisines horseradish, ginger, and the common radish also serve as aids in the digestion of fatty, oily, or fried foods. Horseradish in particular, often used as a seasoning for roasted meats, is said to stimulate the liver and the secretion of gall. I have not seen many people who eat an excess of roots, so I cannot offer a firsthand comment on the effect such an excess would have. What I have noticed, however, is that the contractiveness and stability of roots, when added to the contractiveness and solidity of grains and beans in some vegetarian diets can encourage a certain inner hardening, a self-righteousness if you will, an emotional rigidity and a lack of physical motion. On the whole, people who eat a high proportion of roots, grains, and beans tend to sit and think, rather than run or dance. This tendency can be counterbalanced if desired by the uplifting, expansive energy of fruit, herbs, and spices. LEAVES
• Expansive: lettuce, parsley Contractive: cooked bitter greens
• Alkalizing
• Cooling
• Breakdown food When a seed sprouts underground, a shoot grows upward in the direction opposite to that of the roots. This