Truth is, we have so adulterated the food we eat that it is a major problem to eat healthily. I've been trying and I have had to make major changes in my diet that I thought was a healthy one. Turns out, it wasn't. Many of the lowfat "healthy" foods and the so-called healthy vegetable oils (Canola, for example) are anything but healthy. Because of the way we feed animals, their meat and eggs are no longer as healthy for us to eat. I have made an effort to put together information found in the following books to make an easy food plan to follow without counting calories, grams, glycemic index, etc. Actually, the best diet is traditional foods prepared in the traditional manner. But I should qualify that - traditional foods are foods that are grown in the natural traditional manner. Fish should eat their natural diet and not "fish chow". Cattle should be grassfed and not fed in feedlots. Chickens should scratch for their food and not be fed grains for quick growth. The best books I have found are listed below, especially Green for Life.
The diet of industrialized nations contains too much arachidonic acid (AA) which is an inflammatory omega-6 fatty acid. AA causes the body to be in a constant state of inflammation causing many health problems such as asthma, allergies, eczema, dermatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus scleroderma, inflammatory bowel disease, gout, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, sprue, psoriasis, diseases that cause you to take corticosteroids (such as prednisone), atherosclerosis, chronic kidney failure, chronic hepatitis, chronic thyroid disease, chronic pancreatitis, Alzheimer's disease, osteoarthritis, chronic bronchitis, or COPD, emphysema, heart attack, stroke, chronic high blood pressure, cancer of the colon, stomach, lung, or breast, high cholesterol or triglycerides, chronic cough, gum problems or gum disease, body mass index more than 30. Grain-fed meat is way too high in AA. We cannot balance too much AA in the diet with supplements. Excellent book. Basically it shows that our livestock need to be fed their "traditional diet" and not modern junk food if we want them to be a healthy source of food for us. He still includes some junk foods in his suggested food plan which are best eliminated.
Our diets are enzyme deficient and so out of balance that our body is always out of homeostasis. When we drink pop, we consume too much phosphorus. That causes an excess of phosphorus-to-calcium in your bloodstream, a message is sent to your body that calcium is needed - and your body will pull that calcium right out of your bones - causing osteoporosis, among other things. Symptoms that her diet addresses: anorexia, binge eating, bloating, canker sores, excessive belching, indigestion, nausea, nervous stomach, irritable colon, diarrhea, gas, constipation, hunger between meals, vomiting, nervousness, fatigue, anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, confusion, dizziness, drowsiness, headache, hostility, irritability, mood change, insomnia, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, fullness of head, muscle aches, muscle cramps, swelling, stiffness, irregular heartbeat, increased heartbeat, congestion in chest, asthma, back pain, hay fever, palpitations, sinusitis, dark circles under eyes, runny nose, scratchy throat, itchy ears, joint pains, hives, rash, acne, psoriasis, edema, eczema, unusual skin pallor, vaginal discharge, vaginal itching, PMS Syndrome, menopausal symptoms, menstrual cramps, swollen breast(s), lumps in breast(s), Candida albicans, Epstein Barr Virus, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, falling asleep after meals, water retention, hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, environmental illness.
"Most people's leptin levels are out of control, causing them to overeat and to store fat rather than burn it. The only way to flip the 'hunger switch' back to normal is through a diet high in healthy fats and low in carbohydrates, saturated fat, and trans-fatty acids often found in processed food - plus just 15 minutes of daily exercise." "I attracted a great deal of attention in the medical community nine years ago when I was one of the first doctors to lecture about the importance of insulin resistance and by showing that I was able to cure, yes, cure, many cases of diabetes through diet alone." "Omega-6 fatty acids (in commercial oils such as soy and corn oil and most brands of margarine) are often promoted as healthy fat... They are also likely to promote inflammation, which can damage healthy cells and spread throughout the body like a fire out of control. - Basically we need healthy fats in our diet and the junk being promoted as being healthy - margarine and processed vegetable oils are not healthy. Neither is the fat in animals fed grains or an unnatural diet.
Book is based on the studies of human nutrition done by Weston Price. [We are suffering from modern diseases that our ancestors did not have. Yes, I know the argument that "back then" they just gave the diseases different names and the diseases were classified differently so we can't compare then and now. But our pet population was relatively healthy until wheat was added to their chow and feedlot meat became their food, too. Our pets are currently getting all the diseases that man gets but in the not-so-distance past these diseases were nearly unknown in pets. Man had heart disease and the other diseases so we knew what the diseases were. So even if you buy into the idea that we really suffered from all the diseases we have now but called them something else, that argument does not work for our pets who are also suffering. And the reason that our pets are sick and we are sick is the crappy food that is on our plates every day. The best diet is traditional foods cooked in the traditional manner. Trouble is, we don't know what that is any more. We have a decades-old tradition of junk food and sugar consumption and have accepted anything that isn't Wonder bread to be healthy. Traditional food is Native Nutrition. What the native population who lived in our area used to eat. Sally Fallon's book explains what traditional food is and how to prepare it. - bfg]
This is an excellent book about eating for health. Weight-loss is a side effect of eating right, exercising, and positive thinking. He recommends saunas to get rid of toxins. We don't sweat enough. Sweating is one of the best ways to get rid of chemicals in our bodies. Eat whole foods. Don't eat fast food or out of boxes or cans. Avoid sugar, artificial foods, etc. Exercise - have fun while doing it. Play games with your kids, ride bicycles, play tennis, etc. Eat protein at breakfast every day. Eat something every 3-4 hours. Avoid eating for 2-3 hours before bed. Control the glycemic load of meals. He recommends interval training for building muscle. He has a guide with health quizzes at www.ultrametabolism.com/guide.
This is a special book. If you are really serious about being well, this is a must read. Greens need to be a much bigger part of our diet. She recommends smoothies so you get the fiber. Her family (husband, two children, and herself) were all very ill and switched to a raw food diet which cured their health problems. But it wasn't enough. So Victoria studied the diet of chimpanzees and compared it to human diets. On page 70 she writes about HCl deficiency. Since I know I have that problem, this was of special interest to me. In Russia to test for hypochlorhydria they ask people to drink a quarter cup of beet juice and watch to see if the color of their stool or urine changes even slightly to the color of a beet. If it changes, then yes, your stomach acid is low. Such a simple test! She had a test group of people who tested their HCl with a challenge test of using HCl supplements. After a month on green smoothies, their HCl had improved!
Page 80 - ..."the main reason for illness was stated very clearly in 1931! Over 75 years ago Otto Warburg was awarded the Nobel prize for his discovery that cancer is caused by weakened cell respiration due to lack of oxygen at the cellular level. According to Warburg, damaged cell respiration causes fermentation, resulting in low pH (acidity) at the cellular level.
"Dr. Warburg, in his Nobel Prize winning study, illustrated the environment of the cancer cell. A normal healthy cell undergoes an adverse change when it can no longer take in oxygen to convert glucose into energy. In teh absence of oxygen, the cell reverts to a primal nutritional program to nourish itself by converting glucose through the process of fermentation. The lactic acid produced by fermentation lowers teh cell pH (acid/alkaline balance) and destroys the ability of DNA and RNA to control cell division. The cancer cells then begin to multiply. The lactic acid simultaneously causes severe local pain as it destroys cell enzymes."
Page 83 - ..."I understood that the so-called "bad" cholesterol, lipoprotein (LDL) is made by our own liver in order to bind the toxins and deactivate the acidic waste that comes from certain foods, such as fats and animal protein." Her website www.RawFamily.com
These books tell you exactly how to eat. No rules other than eat when hungry and eat freshly picked foods. Raw mostly. Your body will tell you what food to eat if you only offer it the best fresh food available, plain, whole foods.
You may also find my food/disease history timeline interesting: http://barbfeick.com/healthinfo/history_timeline.htm
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