Refrigerator Look Book: Alanna Kaivalya
Alanna Kaivalya is the yoga teacher’s teacher. The Jivamukti-trained instructor is known for designing and leading teacher training programs at Pure Yoga and Yoga Vida, and she recently launched her own called the Kaivalya Yoga Method.
She’s also known for her yoga class podcasts, some of which benefit adorable puppies.
For Kaivalya, her food choices, like her professional yoga pursuits, are just one more opportunity for her to experience life with joy. Here’s her very own version of a yogi diet:
Let’s start with the most obvious question: What’s in the pot? It’s buffalo chili! I order free-range buffalo from a farm in Minnesota. They send it frozen, and I love it because it’s leaner. The farm is totally free-range, and they have a really great reputation for the way they raise their animals. I don’t do it often, but I do eat meat, and I like to make sure it’s responsibly sourced.
Did you make the pot for a crowd or do you just eat it throughout the week? I made it and ate it throughout the week. The weather had started to turn cold, and I love any kind of soup. It’s something my mother in Colorado would do.
I see, but it still looks like you had a party. There’s a crudite platter in there, and a lot of champagne. That’s actually Martinelli’s Apple Cider! But on the door, that’s champagne. There’s a little something for everybody. This picture was taken just before Thanksgiving. I had a big party, and this was in preparation. One of the rules my grandmother taught me was that no one should leave your house hungry.
What are some go-to foods that you eat all of the time? You can’t really see them because they’re in the drawer, but artichokes are my go-to food! I love them. The butter on the top right is just for the artichokes. I even have a special pot for artichokes, where I can steam them—they made that pot just for me. And almond butter with Macoun apples. I grew up in Colorado where our only apples were Red Delicious and Granny Smith. Thankfully, I had a boyfriend from New York who educated me on apples, and now I love Macouns. They’re the perfect snack.
The light is making it hard for me to see what you have on the top shelf. Illuminate please! In the little black pot, there’s a face mask from Lush. Underneath the butter is more butter [laughs]. Next to it is Parmesan cheese, then half an avocado, and mushrooms. The clear things are leftovers for my dog—she gets some food, too. Then strawberries and sprouted gluten-free bread.
There’s a lot of disagreement in the yoga community about what counts as the yoga diet. For you, is there a connection between yoga and what you eat? Absolutely. Everything I do is informed by yoga. It requires me to make very conscious choices. I spent many years as a vegetarian and vegan, and the reality was that it made me really ill. It caused me to address a bigger question, which was, “Am I important?” If I was getting sick, I couldn’t teach my classes properly or practice properly. As a human, it’s impossible to do no harm, so you focus on doing as little as possible. —Lisa Elaine Held
I believe if you get hurt doing yoga you have not been doing it the right way. Alignment is key .Same goes with being vegan. To me it goes hand in hand with ahimsa. Free range or not, that animal can experience pain and anxiety. And there is alignment in eating also, plenty of protein and iron in the world of plants : )
I agree with Julia. No “teacher’s, teacher” as you call it, would eat meat. The first yama is non-harming. Free-range is another term for having a window in the farm. It’s crap and just shows she’s a hypocrite. especially for someone who touts themselves as some sort of a yoga master.
You clearly have never heard of Tibetan Yogis or yogis in Medieval India if you think that yoga has some law against meat eating. Also, there are many books you can read on India’s varied history of trying to understand and practice ahimsa.
Judgement??? We all have to do our best when it comes to choices. Alanna will have to live with what she ate and others will have to live with how they judged her. I always try to remember that I walk in my shoes and no one else’s.
Great article Alanna!
so are you saying you can only be a true yogi if you don’t eat meat?! that is simply a very narrow-minded and ignorant view. any vegetarian diet has a lot of violence in it as well — all the animals that get killed in the harvest done by giant machinery, pesticides used to kill billions of little insects, the depletion of lands,…the list goes on. read the ‘vegetarian myth’…your argument is very shallow and weak.
i find these comments really ignorant. alanna is making an effort to source any meat she eats responsibly, which to me makes a bigger point than not eating meat at all. it’s not like a vegetarian diet is any less violent than a omnivorous one! think about all the animals that get killed by the giant machinery harvesting the grains, or all the billions of insects that are detroyed through the use of pesticides. do these little animals not matter as much as the other ones simply because we can’t envision what they feel the same way? what about the enviornmental depletion and top soil erosion caused by the way grains are grown? your argument is weak and shallow, and if you think about these issues a little more deeply (maybe read ‘the vegetarian myth’), you’ll see that a vegetarian diet is not the answer. and don’t even start about all the starving people that could be fed if we didn’t raise cattle. cattle aren’t supposed to eat grains! they eat grass and they’re manure fertilizes the pastures. the problem lies with the industrial food system, not meat production. we need to acknowledge the problem with the way we do things and support a system that is more sustainable (like getting meat from small sustainable farms).
Does yoga have a yama regarding judgmental, know-it-all behavior as well? I too got sick from being a vegetarian. If you are experiencing sickness from following a certain diet, you are violating the first yama since you are hurting yourself. Eating animals is part of the cycle of life. I encourage you to go to Africa, or perhaps Canada, and tell those evil Lions and wolves that they should be existing on grass. Humans have canines for a reason, and frankly our entire society and civilization is based on the fact that we farm and domesticated animals. Now, if vegetarianism and veganism works for you, well I’m happy for you. But if you are someone for whom that diet is not an option, then walk a mile in their shoes before you judge and call their way of life “crap”. What I find so funny about many vegetarians and vegans is that they are certainly more concerned about their behavior towards animals then people. Under no circumstances would I advocate the torture or hurting of animals, but thats what happens every day when they are hunted down and killed by other species. As humans we have a responsibility to make it as pain-free as possible, but the food chain is a fact of life. Perhaps you should take a long look at how willing you are to throw nasty words around towards your fellow humans, while you sit on your high horse and say you do not hurt animals. I sure hope you haven’t swatted a mosquito or inadvertently stepped on an ant in your travels bc that would make you a hypocrite!
I agree with julia and jiva diva. To respect and honour the lifeforce of others is a fundemental practice in yoga! Ahmisa, the yogic principle of non-harming certainly includes avoidance of meat eating and this should not be bypassed under the excuse that ‘its not for everyone’, which is sometimes what I hear from people. Sucess in vegetarianism (like all aspects of yoga) requires education, committment and discipline. For Alanna and other ‘yogi’s’ with a similar standpoint it perhaps suggests that there is scope for them to focus their efforts more on developing their niyama’s (personal observances) for their own spiritual development. Nobody is perfect and nobody expects their teacher to be perfect but I would say that a teacher is most effective if they themselves know the experience of transcending obstacles. ( and I think it was Alanna herself that said something similar to that in a class of hers that I attended!)
It’s good to see a teacher that is honest about her diet. Westerners often turn to the first yama to defend vegan diets as a requirement for being a yogi. If they can’t get by on that argument, they often say that yogi’s and people in India don’t eat meat either.
The first yama “Ahimsa” means “Non-Harming”. It does not mean “Non-harming of animals for human consumption.” Insisting that the sole purpose of one piece of ancient text exists to defend your diet is quiet selfish. In fact, making hateful and angry comments about someones dietary choices is harming to them and to others.
Eating meat is a choice yes, but biologically speaking we are omnivores. Our bodies are built to digest and masticate meat, just not as much as American’s consume. Meat is supposed to be a very small part of our diet, but many cultures (including those in America) view meat as a status symbol. It could just as easily be argued that by denying natures plan for us, by denying our bodies something we were built to do, we are denying our connection to our planet, our universe, and to our highest Self.
As for vegetarian diets in India, their climate permits a variety of vegetation to be grown throughout the year. Coupled with religious beliefs, the cost of meat being higher than the cost of vegetation, and culture, most Indian dishes are vegetarian. But a lot also contain meats.
I commend Alanna’s honesty about her diet. Who are we to state that if you do not live one way, you are not a Yogi? So long as our intentions come from our heart, and our choices are made responsibly, there is nothing wrong with a bowl of delicious buffalo chili.
All of us are at different points in our yoga journey, even ‘teacher’s teachers’, and if Alanna is at a point where she is eating meat, there is nothing wrong with that. She is an amazing teacher, and just because she eats meat does not mean she doesn’t hold a wealth of knowledge and have the great skill of how to teach it.
I think the other commenters may need reminding of what Ahimsa means.
I think it’s great that Alanna is open and honest with the fact that she eats meat, however it is pretty disappointing. Jivamukti yoga is well known for being a vegan yoga school, I don’t think it’s right for her to continue riding the Jivamukti wave of fame while she is no longer a vegan. I’m sure her teachers, the founders of Jivamukti would be disappointed too. If being vegan made her too sick to teach her classes, then maybe she shouldn’t be a yoga teacher or at least put more dedication into finding out how to be a healthy vegan than a healthy teacher.
wow, really?? way to judge, above “yogi” commentators. as Alanna stated, she tried to go the vegan route and became very ill. Ahimsa applies to self-care as well, and if you are doubting her devotion to yoga and calling her a hypocrite for that, how non-harming are YOU being?
Hmm..this diet is not aligning for me. Eating buffalo is not “informed” by yoga in any way. Why is eating a buffalo okay, but not, say, a dog? There is no difference. And too, I’m always a little put off by people who proclaim their ego so clearly in their bio.
I am not saying to pass judgment on those eating meat. We all grow up with habits that are fed to us by our family and society. I am just tired of hearing you get sick from being vegan. I have three healthy children that were products of a vegan pregnancy. They never take antibiotics or have to see the doctor cause they are unwell. If you are following a nutritious vegan diet you can meet all the needs a healthy body should have, iron, protein ( what do you think that buffalo ate? )Just ponder the fact that a mother feels love for their offspring no matter what species. I don’t believe in hurting humans or animals. We are the only beings that keep drinking milk, forced from another being, after the age of two.
As far as farming goes I would recommend to eat local organic, fair to the land and the people that live there.
I know this is a touchy subject. For me it was just a bit one sided and wanted to share my view on it. peace
read this and then tell me a vegetarian diet is ‘harmless. http://theconversation.edu.au/ordering-the-vegetarian-meal-theres-more-animal-blood-on-your-hands-4659‘