Good Eating Principles
The following Eating Principles have been provided by my good friend Jan at Healthguy.org.
The Theory
This eating plan is an idealistic guideline and is subject to your own interpretation, adjustments and adaptations. It does not consider the 80/20 rule, which states that an ideal diet is where 80% of your intake follows strict guidelines, and the remaining 20% can be relaxed. It is more important to understand the concept behind it. That basic concept comprised of the following principles.
Respect Your Digestive System
Ease your digestive system into the day as opposed to shocking it into action.
Why?
While sleeping, up to 80% of one’s blood can be stored in the liver. The simple act of getting out of bed jolts the heart to into action with the purpose of pumping blood to the digestive system and to the extremities of the body. The digestive system requires much blood and energy to function optimally. The process of getting blood pumping efficiently throughout the body therefore takes a while (1 – 2 hours).
It is ideal to rinse the digestive of old food and debris from the previous day with pure water (not refrigerated and ideally distilled). The water will also help to activate the digestive system.
Whilst this “awakening” process is in action one should pick up the heart rate slightly to aid the shunting of blood throughout the body. This is done with some morning exercises. Morning exercises include pumping blood to the digestive system, thus preparing it to rid itself of old waste at the one end and bracing itself for the onslaught of food which is going to occur at the other.
It is ideal to have a bowel movement within an hour of waking up before consuming any solids or just after some tea, fruit or a juice. This literally lightens one’s load and gives one more energy for the day ahead. For the record, two to three bowel movements a day (reflecting three meals and healthy peristalsis) are the ideal. But at least once a day is the minimum requirement. Resisting bowel movements and “holding it in” causes the colon to absorb the toxins from the waste matter/ excretion, creating toxicity and acidosis of the blood.
To throw food into a “sleeping” digestive system is much like trying to slide down a water slide without water. The food waits in the stomach for the digestive juices to kick in, and while standing around it is susceptible to all sorts of parasitical bacteria in the stomach. This results in the putrification of the food. The half ready digestive system strains as it is called into action prematurely. By the time it begins to break down and assimilate the food, the food is already partially converted into the form of waste matter excreted by the parasites. Straight away, one starts the day on the back foot.
Animal Protein
It is important to avoid combining concentrated animal protein with refined starches such as white bread, white rice or even pasta. This includes potato.
Concentrated animal protein (just about any animal product) requires pepsin to be digested. Pepsin is a digestive juice secreted in the stomach and is only effective in highly acidic mediums which need to be maintained for several hours to completely digest proteins.
Starches on the other hand, requires ptyalin (amylase) to be digested. Ptyalin is an alkaline juice which is secreted into the food from the mouth by saliva when carbohydrate/ starch (e.g. bread or potato) is being chewed.
When starch and concentrated animal protein are combined, the acid and alkaline digestive juices cancel one another out, therefore leaving the food to sit around in the stomach waiting to be digested. Once again the perfect environment for parasitic bacteria to feast. In such situations, it takes over 12 hours for the food to digest sufficiently by which stage it has putrefied and fermented. It is worthless to the body.
Fortunately, most vegetables are digested by alkaline and acid juices and are therefore the perfect common denominator in most meals. The only vegetable excluded from these is the starchy potato.
When incompatible combinations are consumed at dinner times in large quantities, the digestive system is recruited to work an “all-nighter”. Just like any person does not want to do that because of the detrimental effects of fatigue and stress, neither does the body and the digestive system. The results of all night digestion are basically bad sleep or insomnia, morning lethargy, heart burn and too many other symptoms. By the time one wakes up in the morning the digestive system is exhausted. To expect it to break down breakfast is sending it into over drive and imminent burn out.
So it is rather important to ease one’s digestive system into the day, and just as important to ease it back out for a good night’s sleep.
It is important to limit one’s animal protein intake to a maximum of once per day. That means if you have tuna, salmon, sardines, chicken or even cheese or egg in your meal at lunch time, it is better to have a supper totally void of any animal product.
Consuming flesh three times a week is reasonable and more than sufficient
Ideally one would want to wean oneself off animal protein altogether as it is extremely taxing on the human digestive system. This is an extreme approach and somewhat impractical and some would argue that it is not viable considering the poor quality of fresh produce these days. However, if one is ill in any way, intake of animal products should be halted immediately and intake of fresh juices increased. This significantly reduces the amount of energy required by the digestive system, thus allowing the body to redirect its resources towards targeting and expelling any unwanted foreign bodies which may be causing the dis-ease.
Important Considerations
- No food should be consumed 2 – 3 hours before retiring.
- All desserts and fruit, should be eaten alone as they generally need to pass directly through the stomach to the small intestine for digestion and assimilation. If the stomach is full of food, the dessert or fruit will be backed up and won’t be able to digest – fermentation, putrification and parasite party ensues.
- Having nothing else but raw and steamed vegetables the whole day is alkalising and only beneficial. Having nothing but else but raw and steamed vegetables for a whole week is even better.
- To have nothing but fruit for a whole day is an excellent way to clean out the digestive system. To do this once a week habitually contributes significantly to a cleaner, more efficient digestive system, thus reducing the general state of toxicity in the rest of the body.
- At mealtimes, only eat until 80% full.
- Try to keep at least 50% of your daily food intake raw.
- Avoid having too much of one food type in the day. Having said that, one can never have too much vegetable. Extra fruit is never a bad thing provided it is not combined with any complex foods.
- Modern day stress and lifestyle combined with poor social dietary habits and zero dietary education has resulted in the general existence of acidosis. Therefore one should welcome and exploit anything alkalising e.g. vegetables.
- Variety is the spice of life. If one chooses the one option the one day for breakfast, it is preferable to have another option the next day.
- As a rule, one should avoid all processed, refined, denatured and synthetic foods. This includes ingredients and so-called seasoning or flavour enhancers such as food colouring, flavourants, M.S.G. (monosodium glutamate) and preservatives.
- Rinse or wash all fresh produce even if organic. Root vegetables should be peeled if not organic. If organic, root vegetable should be scrubbed.
- The 80/20 rule (or even 75/25) applies. If one follows a healthy nutritional regimen for most of the day or week, one can enjoy those decadent meals, desserts and sweets with a positive attitude and a clear conscience. The digestive system will also be more able to take on the strain.
- Drink plenty of water between snacks and meals. Work towards 2 litres a day. It is recommended that one avoid drinking large quantities of water directly before or after a big meal as it will dilute the digestive juices and slow down the digestive process and therefore the efficiency.
- Food should be well chewed before swallowing, thus easing the burden on the digestive system as well as facilitating the digestive process. It also stimulates more saliva production and therefore amylase digestive enzyme.
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