Sunday 17 November 2013

Learn how to eat according to "interventional research"

As I complete my studies in Nutrition in the next 2 weeks (well, it’s really just the beginning) I have become MOST fascinated by the evidence of the correlation between what we eat and drink and diseases.

I’ve made RADICAL changes to my diet following my scare with breast cancer, the start of arthritis in my knees, and then my back going out so bad I had to virtually lay flat for 2 weeks, and that was about a year & a half ago now. 

Brunch on a 5:2 fast day - tho its a total treat
First time Ive included egg & smoked trout as I
usually keep these days vegan & antioxidents
I can honestly say that I THANK my body for giving me these warnings & for telling me that there was definitely going to be worse to come if I continued living the same way.  Symptoms are warnings that if we heed them, can be life affirming instead of a death sentence or a decline.

My trajectory has been up, up, up as I grow healthier and stronger beyond what I had achieved in my whole life previously.  And I give credit this change from my time laying flat on my back reading The China Study by Dr T Colin Campbell as this book opened my eyes and mind to a whole new way of looking at food and nourishing my cells rather than damaging them.

Dr Campbell wrote The China Study with his son, also a Doctor who writes:

“A growing body of interventional research showing that the superior power of plant foods, or components of plant foods, extends even to disease treatment and reversal. Most impressively, this varied research has now demonstrated benefits for a wide range of diseases. We have seen advanced heart disease and diabetes, and their risk factors, reversed. 

We have seen promising interventions with rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and prostate cancer. We have seen evidence of plant-based benefits for kidney, bone, eye, and brain health. Anyone looking honestly at the data of the past hundred years cannot be but impressed by the overwhelming leaning towards the benefits of eating whole plants over other types of foods.Thomas M. Campbell, MD (read full article)

And I truly believe that my good health now is related to me giving my cells healthy nourishment so that the diseases in their early stages could be reversed.

It recently stunned me that my own family really don’t get me, and the way that my son and I now eat.  It just blows their mind and is so challenging for them.  They simply haven’t been able to get their heads around what it is that I’m doing, let alone put thoughts to what THEY are doing to themselves.  It’s not to say that they won’t, but so far they don’t want to listen.

My 4 yr olds lunch - home made nonGMO wholegrain bread
Hummus, & Choc slice made from organic
cocao, coconut oil, cranberries & little maple syrup,
plus organic corn chips & veg.
It’s a revelation to me though that I too don’t “get them” and find it mind blowing the food that I see them eat and feed their children – white bread with margarine and sausages, compressed lamb & chicken cubes on sticks all soaked in sugary sauces.  In small doses they MAYBE can get away with it, but there is hardly EVER any inclusion of ANY “living” food.  And now I don’t get them.  I could not do that to myself ever again.

As Dr Campbell says the message is pretty simple: “Eat more whole, unrefined fruits, vegetables, legumes, tubers, and whole grains. Eat less animal foods and processed foods.”  

And of course add to that exercise, drink clean water, get safe amounts of sunshine and rrrreeeelllllaaaaxxxxx your mind and body regularly.

I love the perspective in India when you look at a restaurant menu and see first the Vegetable section, then at the back, there’s a smaller “non-vegetarian” section.  This is how we should be thinking – veg first, meat as a treat.

Ditch the sugar laden tomato sauce
for this delicious sun-dried tomato
sauce that's high in iron
So since there is so much information out there on what NOT to eat, I’m going to start to publish my own Max/Min Club e-Book Meal Plans on what you CAN eat to give maximum nutrition to your cells and maximise your health and minimise disease.

You can be assured that I’ve invested extensive research into all ingredients that I will recommend.  I will have created my own recipes plus tweeked other people’s so they are full of nutritious ingredients that will advance the nutrient intake of your body’s cells – and I will have veg and non-veg options.

Never to be one who will shy away from a good time, some of my Meal Plans will be just in time for Xmas so you can also do some minimal cell damage by eating and drinking naughty stuff (eg sugary treats and alcohol) but I will also be giving some tips on how to boost your cells and minimise inflammation the next day so you recoup faster.

Our bodies are amazing, and with the right tools our cells will regenerate and give us the love back that we give to them.

So stay tuned for some exciting Max/Min Club Meal Plans.

Come on a Personalised or Group Ayurveda healing holiday with Alison Josewww.pranahealingholidays.com