There are numerous diets that are described as being low carb. Essentially, they all suggest the same thing – namely, that the amount of high carbohydrate foods that go into a conventional diet are reduced. In practical terms, this means cutting down on starchy foods like bread, pasta or potatoes. However, it will also often mean that simpler carbohydrates in sugars are reduced. Conversely, foods which have a low carb content can be eaten in greater quantities to make up the same – or close – calorie intake of the individual concerned. Some of these diets place a heavy emphasis on upping the amount of protein that is consumed while others focus on higher amounts of fibrous vegetables. Scientific studies have found that following a low carb diet will help with weight loss, but they have few health benefits to offer other than that.
Sometimes referred to as nondualism, non duality is often referred to as a mature or heightened sense of consciousness. In most areas of human consciousness, any person is thinking about themselves and their relationship with the world, their spirituality and the wider universe. However, this necessarily means there is a dichotomy between the person and everything else, according to adherents of non duality. When a state of nondualism is achieved, the 'I' is transcended and a sense of consciousness is created in which no such dichotomies are present. In other words, non duality is consciousness which transcends any sense of individuality, and that is at one with the universe.
Ram Dass – sometimes known as Baba Ram Dass – was an American-born exponent of Eastern spirituality and yoga in the West. He was also a qualified psychoanalyst and author. He was perhaps best-known as a spiritual teacher who did a great deal to bring many aspects of Hinduism to a wider audience in the post-war generation of Americans. Ram Dass travelled to India in the late 1960s where he became a disciple of Neem Karoli Baba, a Hindu guru. It was him who gave Ram Dass his new name which translates into English as 'Servant of God'. Following a stroke in the 1990s, the spiritual teacher was left with some paralysis, but he learned to speak again and took up travelling once more until he became ill again after a trip to India in 2004. He died in Hawaii in December 2019.
