I know this is the urgent news you are all dying to hear, but I made a beet salad last night and I actually really enjoyed it. It was roasted beets on top of beet greens sauteed with shallots in olive oil, topped with goat cheese, walnuts and a balsamic vinaigrette (thanks, Wayne!). I gobbled mine up, and most of my husband’s. Alas, he has not been converted to a beet lover, but my mother-and-father-in-law enjoyed the beets as well. Three out of four ain’t bad. Now I can’t wait to try some of the other recipes people have suggested!

The beets came from my Door-to-Door Organics produce box. I belong to a co-op group, where all of our boxes are delivered to one address and we go pick them up every Thursday. I keep thinking that it’s kind of a pain, and I start thinking that I might drop out, but knowing that the box of fruit and vegetables is coming every week keeps me inspired to actually prepare and eat these things. I never, ever would have tried the beets if they hadn’t come in my box. I’ll stick with the box because there is a feeling that I get from eating fresh, organic produce that is unlike eating anything else — maybe it’s my imagination, but I think I feel the prana, the life energy of the food coursing through my veins.

I certainly don’t feel that way after eating, say, a big handful of Doritos.

My yoga teacher Annie talks about the three gunas, or qualities, that make up everything that is manifest in this world.  (For a more thorough explanation, see here.) The three gunas are sattva, rajas, and tamas, and Annie talks about how those qualities are present in particular foods.  She stresses the importance of eating a mostly sattvic diet — food that is light, organic, fresh, pure, full of energy (like beets!).  Although rajas and tamas are not necessarily “bad,” too much of food that is rajasic (spicy, stimulating, like chiles, coffee, or chocolate) or tamasic (meat, alcohol, tobacco, onions, garlic) can have negative effects on body and mind.  Annie would probably say that you should almost never consume tamasic foods (I have been subjected to her lecture on onions and garlic on more than one occasion), but I think for most of us, realistically we will at least consume small amounts of meat, wine, etc. and hope to balance them out with more sattvic foods and of course, our yoga practice.

I have to look no farther than my own father for the effects of a heavily tamasic diet.  Dad’s favorite foods are steak, BBQ meats, and hamburgers.  His drink of choice is whiskey, and he is a heavy smoker.  He also likes rajasic foods — spicy salsas and coffee are favorites.  Fruits and veggies? Only under duress.  I know that there’s no scientific “proof” of the gunas or their effects, but when I look at Dad and what he consumes, I’m not really surprised that he has cancer, an ulcer, heart disease, and depression.  My own diet is far from perfect (especially when it comes to sugar!) but I hope to avoid some problems by making better choices whenever possible.

So bring on the beets!