Actually, when it comes to food and diet, disease prevention is quite logical. You avoid eating anything that puts pressure on the body,in particular, the immune system and whatever organs are being challenged. It may sound simplistic, but if one eats a relatively healthy diet with less grease, fatty meats, fried, oily food, and avoids a lot of sugary foods and sweets, it is impossible for you to not feel some improvement. In addition to that, one needs to protect all the filtering organs: kidneys, lungs, liver along with the spleen. They just cannot do their jobs properly if they are constantly bombarded with rich desserts, ice cream, shakes, chocolate, colas, artifical preservatives, colors, flavors and heavy foods.
Please read the Health tips below and try to take them to heart. If you get into the habit of reading labels whenever you buy anything, and chosing you food more wisely as a result of our suggestions, you will definietly feel a difference within one month, if not sooner.
When your immune system is fighting to save you, it needs a break from being exposed to strong foods, cleaning agents, chemicals in your home, personal hygiene products, and environment. Try to stick to natural products to lessen the burden on your body. You may be so pleased you will decide to make the suggestions on this page a way of life and to recommend it to others. Who knows, by sharing this information and or web link, you could be a vehicle for helping someone elses suffering to be eased.
It will be tough at first. We are so addicted to our favorite things. We eat them, and eat them, until we develop an allergic addictive response to those things. There is nothing wrong with a little of almost any food. It becomes a huge problem when we keep eating them to the point we can not imagine doing without them for even one single month.
Here’s a simple exercise to try: Think of which foods you now eat that you cannot imagine doing without for one single month….AND, stop it for one month. You may be very surprised at how difficult this simple sounding suggestion is. What? no chocolate? What? no chicken? What? no bread?
Whatever your triggers/cravings are, it is likely you have developed an allergic addictive response to those foods in the same way an alcoholic or addict, or smoker, is addicted to their drug of choice.
Most of the time, people think it is easier to just stop those foods rather then to say they will eat less. This is an absolute fact. However, that practice is nearly impossible when you are addicted to something.
It is more difficult to stop foods that any other addictive substance. That is because, we have to eat. Also, it is because we associate food with love. The very first message we got as infants was food is love. It doesn’t matter if it was a bottle or a breast, that was the time, and for some of us, the only time, that we were held and loved. It was an imprint that lasts a lifetime.
On top of it, the imprint was about that white stuff called milk.. Just to hear the words for some is comforting. However, in Chinese and Tibetan medicine all milk products and mucous producing. It can put pressure on the lungs, sinuses, lymph system, spleen (stores the blood), and can cause an elevation of the uric acid that can collect in the joints. There’s more, much more, but this is a short article.
And so, below, please take the time to read our recommendation. If you can only do one single thing, it is better then doing nothing.
STAY HEALTHY WITH THIS DISEASE PREVENTION DIET
ALTERNATIVE RESOURCES UNLIMITED
In a letter sent from a patient to Dr. Marsha Woolf, director of Alternative Resources Unlimited, renowned Natural Medicine cancer and immune system consultant for 36 years, Cris writes:
Dr. Marsha, Do you have any healthy food tips? What do YOU eat for breakfast? xoxo
HEALTHY FOOD TIPS
Dear Cris,
As a teacher, I believe it is important to live what we profess. And so, I do work at keeping this diet myself. The most important rule of thumb for a disease prevention healthy diet is to eat whole, fresh, and pure (clean and organic) food as much as possible. This goes for all foods you consume, whether meals or snacks. Whole means that the food should be as close to the way it was when it grew in nature. Fresh food suggests that you buy and cook your food fresh, and avoid canned, frozen, and processed foods. Of course, there are a number of good companies now offering products that are organic either canned or frozen. When it is not possible to cook fresh food, these are good substitutes. Pure food should not have chemicals, preservatives, artificial coloring or flavoring added and not be adulterated in any way. When you read a label on a food product, if your can picture every item listed as it grew on earth that is a clean product.
Two tips that can save your life:
1. WATCH SODIUM. There are a multitude of diseases and health conditions that can be aggravated, if not caused, by too much salt in your diet- heart disease, strokes, neurological disorders, high blood pressure, kidney disease, cancer, fluid retention, and obesity only to mention a few. Read labels checking for products high in sodium. This goes for supposed healthy products as well. For example, Eden, Westbrae and Whole Foods are companies who offer organic beans with no salt, while Trader Joes beans contain salt. Trader Joes also have a lot of products high in sodium.
The surprising, almost shocking thing about sodium is that you never know where it will turn up. For example, if you read the label of loaves of bread, the sodium levels differ, sometimes dramatically. Try it with any product. Soups especially, are very deceiving. The company will advertise low sodium and it is still 400 mg. Bouillon cubes only list the sodium content for ½ cube. Generally, that is approx 1200 mg. for only ½.
The daily recommended maximum sodium intake for an adult is 2500 mg. One ham sandwich tops that. And sausages? Wow. Many fast foods, packaged ready made products, can easily have 1000 mg or more. If someone has a health problem, no matter how small, the recommended daily sodium intake is 1000 mg. As I have already stated, one single item you eat during the day can easily top that. If you look at Campbell’s soups, you will find that the low sodium soups or ‘natural’ soups are still too high in sodium. This goes for foods produced by companies in the health food industry as well. Amy’s soups and frozen foods (burgers, meals, burritos, pizzas) are frequently guilty of this. Another natural foods company, Pacific, has sodium that could knock the socks off anyone in their low sodium soups. I am not sure of what these companies are thinking. READ LABELS.
2. ALWAYS SEPARATE SUGAR (all forms) AND PROTEIN (all forms). When we eat sweet and protein together, it creates havoc in our bodies. It really does not matter which sweet and which protein. The process is the same. Our diets are riddled with this disastrous combination: turkey and cranberry sauce, sweet and sour dishes with meats, seafood, fish, poultry, meats with bbq sauce, poultry and sweet sauces, tofu and sweet sauces, peanut butter and jelly, cream cheese and jam, ice cream with nuts, yogurt with nuts and/or fruit, trail mix with nuts and fruit, cereal with nuts and fruit, and most power bars (nuts and fruit mixed), etc., etc., etc.
Sugar is assimilated quickly while protein takes more time to digest. When you eat the two together, the sugar bonds to the protein waiting for it to be digested. While it is waiting, the sugar ferments. That’s right, it rots in the gut. This is a big reason why people have digestive problems, gas, bloating, etc. Also, it is believed that by eating this bad food combination along with a high animal fat (including a lot of dairy) can contribute to polyps in the colon, weakness of the immune system, and what we call in Asian medicine impure blood which can lead to cancer.
In fact, we begin everyday by breaking this basic and important rule of health. There are few exceptions to this habit in all Western countries. The typical Western breakfast (as opposed to Eastern) consists of juice or fruit, bacon or some cured meat, eggs, bread with jelly or some sweet spread, and perhaps peanut butter. Or it could be pancakes or waffles with some cured meat and maple syrup or some syrupy topping, or, toast with cream cheese and jam or peanut butter and jelly. In France, every home has a cheese tray that gets passed around with a wonderful array of different cheeses to sample, perhaps some cured processed high sodium meats, along with fresh bread baked that morning (usually white flour), fruit and /or fruit juice, and coffee with cream and sugar.
What’s the solution you ask?
Separate sweets and proteins. This is not easy, but very effective. Once you try this for a while, you will notice a big difference in how you feel. Have your sweet, fruit, dessert, etc. in the middle of the morning, afternoon, evening at least one to two hours from your other food. It will be strange to do at first, but you will feel so much better.
Eat hearty greens everyday. If you can’t eat them with each meal, then supplement your diet with liquid chlorophyll (from alfalfa-I like World Organics), wheat grass, barley greens (I like Green Magma which is used a lot in Japan for cancer prevention and support). Greens are vital- the liver cannot function with out chlorophyll.
Unlike eating a typical Western/American diet, if you eat consciously, reading labels, and keeping foods as whole, fresh and pure as possible, you are improving the likelihood of staying healthy longer and being more emotionally balanced and mentally alert. Many people feel the difference in as short a time as one month.
Try to avoid eating foods you know are not good for you, or for that matter, anyone. The temptation is always there, especially, when you have an event or a party to attend. Rarely will there be many good food choices. This same dilemma can come up when you go to eat in a restaurant. If you are with a person or people who have no food sense it can become difficult. You feel you are being tempted by the foods you know are terrible for you but taste so good. It can be very difficult to make sound food choices when others you are with are not. Actually, some people go so far as to dissuade others from eating well.
I maintain that there will always be foods available in any of these circumstances that are healthy choices. They may be few and far between but if you take the time to look, you’ll find something. A tip I have suggested to people for years is that if they are going out to an event where there is no guarantee there will good, healthy food to eat, eat a little meal before you leave home or work. It is easier to be around junk food on a full or half full stomach. Another trick (same party) is to drink 2 or 3 glasses of room temperature water.
With patience, slowly we learn ways to nourish and take care of ourselves. Many people have not had any good role models in their lives. Some parents try to be good role models for their children while others expect children to do what they say and not as they do. In addition, although some parents try, there is no guarantee that the messages the parents are trying to convey are interpreted in a child’s mind. And so, we all come out of our developmental years needing to do some degree of damage control and breaking down of old negative patterns. Often, these early impressions and negative patterns are not things we are even aware of unless we choose to look.
Now, in trying to eat well in order to think, feel, and be well, you have the opportunity to be your own most loving parent. As I mentioned, many of us have not ever experienced that in our lives. We no longer have to wait for outside help or approval. Cooking is a wonderful opportunity to learn to nourish ourselves. It impacts us on many levels of our lives. We feel ‘taken care of’, even, if only for a moment. Although there are times we deviate from what we know is healthy, the important thing is to always go back to balance. It is best to avoid giving in to the temptations to the point they become addictions and habitual. When one makes the effort everyday to nourish and support the self, magic happens.
Just the simple act of packing a lunch or a snack that you have given thought to before dashing out the door to a busy day/life, is a very grounding thing to do for yourself. Taking the time to think about foods that will keep you replenished as you expend energy, can offer stability to your day and life.
If you want to go the extra mile, go see a Natural Medicine Practitioner or Natural Foods Nutritionist to get tailored advice as to how to balance your diet for optimum health. Ultimately, keep it simple. You do not need a regimen with hundreds of pills a week, you need to nourish yourself with dynamic food and less junk, salt, and sugar. Sometimes it is a challenge to be true to ourselves. However, if we can’t be, who else will or can do it for us?
You asked what I eat for breakfast ?
This is such an interesting question. While my answer may appear very strict to some, certainly others, in particular, my more serious macrobiotic colleagues will find my diet not strict enough!
1. Sometimes I make hot cereal, either brown rice cream (the Macrobiotic cure all for illness), oat or multi-grain (no buckwheat as it can be overheating for the liver) with oat bran, barley flakes, rye flakes as optional add ins. My favorite combo is rye flakes, barley flakes, oats and oat bran all cooked together. I keep it pretty simple and do not eat it with fruit, etc. I use enough water when cooking to make it the consistency I like so I don’t have to add soy milk. I may add steamed or sauteed cubes veggies, peas, winter squash, sweet potato (not often). I may add a very small amt of honey or agave. Usually, I do not.
I make enough porridge (never oatmeal alone) so I have some left over for a snack. I make the leftovers into a pudding kind of thing adding unsweetened soy milk, organic powdered ginger, cardamom, a bit of org fennel powder and a touch of eucalyptus or alfalfa honey or agave.
2. In many parts of Asia, a traditional breakfast consists of what we may think of as regular food, not specific breakfast food. This morning I will have vegetable pea soup from a local natural foods restaurant. My breakfast usually is something I have left from dinner the night before. Sometimes, when I eat out, I order something to take home for the next day’s breakfast. Also, in the USA, in many restaurants they serve so much food on the plate that it is easy to pack up part of it for the morning or lunch meal the next day. Often, I ask for a take out container at the beginning of the meal, and pack half, so I am not tempted to overeat.
3. My favorite breakfast is to eat food I cooked while I was preparing dinner the night before. I either make extra of the dinner I am cooking or prepare something else at that time with the next day in mind. This meal consists of whole grain such as short grain brown rice, millet, barley, quinoa or any combination of them or others, some steamed or lightly sautéed veggies (never the nightshades-tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, rarely zucchini, not much), sea vegetable, mostly arame or kelp, and a bean or tofu dish. I don’t usually eat a lot of greens in the morning. I do, however, eat them throughout the day. Greens are vital to eat since they aid in liver function and nourish the blood.
4. I rarely ever eat bread any time and particularly not for breakfast. I prefer whole grains. There is so much more vital energy in whole grains than flour products.
5. Cheat: fresh home fries from the corner restaurant, made with only light oil sautéed potatoes, onions, and a little salt. I add nutritional yeast and organic dry parsley and turmeric. Other things I add sometimes are organic powdered ginger and/or fennel.
6. Rarely, and only when I am traveling, in the USA I will order an egg sandwich or one poached egg with dry toast. In India, hard boiled eggs are safe, clean and easy for transport. They can be eaten with a whole wheat pita bread (chapatti) for a nutritious meal on the road.
7. Lunch options: Of course, planning ahead and cooking ones own food to bring to work is best. For many, this is difficult. If I have a busy work day, or am in a crazy non stop (for the moment) work mode take out is the only solution.
Being in New York City, there are many restaurants to choose from with luncheon specials. While it is difficult to find a restaurant with relatively healthy foods (by my standards), New York is great in that department. There are a few healthy food places who deliver delicious, fresh, macrobiotic food. Near us, is a local Chinese restaurant. I generally only use this one since I have known them for years, referred hundreds, and trust their cleanliness. They never use msg (monosodium glutamate). Most Asian restaurants ‘say’ they don’t use msg, but they lie. I know because I have the good fortune of being allergic to the stuff so I get a reaction.
I stick to steamed or very lightly sautéed meals. I order my food with no salt, oil, and sugar, all of which most Chinese and Asian restaurants add ‘for taste’. I much prefer to put on my own salt, if I use it at all. If I order a Chinese luncheon special (at least 4 to 5 bucks less then the dinner price, if it is a heavy work day and did not prepare food the night before, sometimes I order two (different ones) and have the second lunch special for dinner that evening. This happens sometimes when I did not plan ahead in the cooking department. When I order healthy food delivered, I feel ‘taken care of’. Also, upon occasion, I will order from a Japanese place nearby. It seems silly, since I can make my own sushi at home, but we are talking about when that forethought has not happened. I never eat raw fish, so I am referring to vegetarian sushi, mostly cooked, or wakame (sea vegetable) sushi. Once in a very blue moon, I will have a sandwich that I buy at Whole Foods. Greens are very important so I try to include them with each meal. The chlorophyll helps with liver function and nourishes the blood.
8. If at all, I tend to eat cold cereal as a snack. Kashi brand organic 0 sugar (and also 0 sodium), or Arrowhead Mills organic puffed millet with unsweetened soymilk (room temperature, never from the fridge) and a dash of honey or agave. They have many organic puffed grain cereals low in sodium- rice, corn, wheat, millet, etc. They offer great tasting clean products.
There is such a wide variety of healthy alternatives for breakfast. Hopefully, these are ideas you can build upon. I trust that answers the breakfast question.
I love you dearly
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