This is a starting point for anyone with chronic illness, pain, stubborn weight loss, anxiety, and fatigue. Changing your diet will change your life. I’m always shocked at the number of people who say, “Oh I can’t give up bread”, or “There’s no way I can give up sugar”, and these people are suffering every day. I was at a point where I would try anything. Maybe you’re not there yet, come back and see me when you are.
Several years ago, before I even knew what was wrong with me, I decided to try eating an all natural diet at my sister’s suggestion. I stopped processed foods and only ate real food. I couldn’t believe how many of my symptoms went away. I really wanted some Doritos one day and decided, what the heck. Even a few bites into it, the pain behind my knee came back. Would I rather a few Doritos, or pain?
The reason food makes you sick and unwell can be a few reasons. If you have viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic infections many foods will feed those critters and fire them up, multiplying and taking over your body. And it’s the critters telling your brain “Feed Me!” so this is why you constantly want to eat the bad food.
Many people have unknown sensitivities and allergies to foods so the body’s response is to attack itself when these foods are eaten. This could be congestion, hives and rashes, water retention, headaches and stomach problems just to name a few.
Sadly our food supply these days is filled with toxins, chemicals, artificial flavors, food dyes and pesticides. There are even neurotransmitters in food that tell your brain “This food tastes good!” and “I want more!” All of these things are contributing to illness, making us sick and unable to lose weight.
The key for your success is this – log everything you eat along with your reactions and how you feel each day. I did this for two years. I really enjoyed the fit bit app. It recorded all my food and had a lot of space to make notes. That way I could go back and try to correlate what was making me worse. Some days my notes said, “felt like I got hit by a truck, couldn’t sleep, headache, so tired…” whatever it is, write it down. Good things too, like, “Slept great! No foggy head…”
There is much being promoted these days about plant based diets. If you think about the meat we eat it’s become very unhealthy. It’s cured, filled with nitrates and chemicals. The animals are being fed antibiotics and unnatural diets. If you eat hot dogs and hamburgers you’re probably eating them on a bun with ketchup, cheese and a side of fries! Most chicken here in America is fried in some way, cleaned with bleach or sent over to China and back to the U.S. The fish has turned into a farming business where they are fed chemicals and even food dye to make them look more appealing. A lot of farmed salmon has food dye to give it that pink color. Even fish straight out of the ocean can be full of mercury or other chemicals. Through my experience, my belief is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with some real grass fed beef, wild game like lamb, bison and buffalo, organic cage free eggs and chickens and wild caught, low mercury fresh fish. If you don’t eat meat because of cruelty to animals then that is another story and that is up to you.
I believe gluten has a negative impact on most people. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye and many of us just can’t digest it. It can cause bloating, stomach problems, extreme fatigue after eating, headaches and depression. Cutting gluten out could drastically improve the health of so many people. The food industry has caught on to the gluten free trend, so there is now gluten free everything! The mistake many folks make is they start stocking up their pantries with all these fun foods and they must be healthy because they’re gluten free right? Always read the ingredients and eat only real food. If you cut out gluten only to replace it with processed “gluten free” foods you could just make yourself feel worse.
I love hearing about different cultures and what they eat and how their health is. I have a friend who grew up in France and as we know, they drink a lot of wine and eat a lot of bread and cheese. He told me the bread is made fresh every single day and the bread and bakery items that do not get eaten that day get thrown out. Their bread doesn’t have all the preservatives that ours does. Their cheese is fresh with no artificial ingredients and their wine is all based on the timing and harvesting of grapes without pesticides.
The middle eastern culture also eats a very healthy, fresh diet. I have a friend with rheumatoid arthritis who recently went to Israel. She was very apprehensive to go, thinking she would be in pain and tired like is here in America. When she came back she told me she felt amazing there. I told her, it’s the food! She said even at breakfast it was lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, lamb and always the fresh pita and hummus.
Bottom line, change your diet, change your life. Eat delicious real food. Find out what foods are making you feel worse and cut them out. Eat to live, don’t live to eat.
Desperate for Health 