Food For Health

For years, I've been trying to convince people I love and care about and a few who were just acquaintances, that food can heal. So far no one has quite believed me. I wouldn't say that I've given up on spreading that truth, I've just decided to go about it a different way.

Our health care system is broken. Our food system is broken. Our society has moved so far away from real food and real health and toward convenience packaged as "convenience foods" and medicines, that it's no wonder most people including doctors and other highly skilled professionals are so out of touch with the healing power of real food.

Rather than try to convince you that food can heal your ills, I'm going to suggest that it's worth just seeing if it can make you feel better. Whether or not you believe food is going to actually cure you, the right foods aren't going to hurt you. Maybe you're experiencing emotional or physical stress. Maybe you're battling a serious illness such as cancer or auto-immune dysfunction. What do you have to lose in changing your diet? What if it just makes you feel better as you deal with your particular challenges? Most medicines today come with a long list of side-effects and warnings. Many cancer medications are still experimental. Medicines get stacked on to combat the side-effects of other medicines. By making simple changes in your eating habits, you can ease the effects of the medications you choose to take.

I personally know four people who have cured their advanced cancer or the advanced cancer of a loved one through nutrition and supplements alone - no surgery, no chemo. I personally know twice as many who have died of cancer or complications from cancer after using conventional treatments - surgery, chemo, radiation, etc. That's a small sampling of people, but enough to convince me personally that it's worth looking into more deeply.

Here are my basic recommendations to help you feel better when facing the smallest to the biggest challenges in life, emotional and physical:

1. Hydrate - Drink one quart of pure water for every 50 pounds of body weight. If you weigh 150 pounds, drink 3 quarts of water a day. If you are a coffee or tea drinker, add a cup to a cup and a half of water to that total for each cup of coffee or tea that you drink.

2. Eat lots of greens - Greens like kale and spinach are considered super foods because of the many vitamins, phytonutrients and antioxidants they contain. At each meal, make sure your plate is at least 50 percent vegetables and most of those vegetables leafy greens (broccoli, kale, spinach, Swiss Chard, Brussels sprouts) - not iceberg lettuce!

3. Cut out flour and sugar. These two are sure to slow you down. Cutting out flour and sugar means cutting out most, if not all, processed and packaged foods. There are so many other delicious foods to eat! Replace that bread with an extra helping of vegetables. Instead of cereal or toast for breakfast, try a smoothie with plain yogurt, fresh or fruits and some greens. Add more greens as you get used to the taste. You can also cut out the yogurt and just blend fruit and greens. If you must eat bread, go for sprouted grain, flourless breads like the ones you can get from Food For Life.

When craving sugary sweetness, discover the natural sweetness of fruits and vegetables. The cravings will go away! Just give yourself a week or two. And please don't switch to sugar substitutes! They are just as harmful to you, and some more harmful, than sugar. If you must, use a little raw honey or maple syrup.

4. Eat fermented vegetables - This is an acquired taste for some. When we first started eating real fermented sauerkraut eight years ago, my husband couldn't stand the smell of it. I'd open the jar, scoop out everyone's servings and close the jar as fast as I could. It took a little time, but we all love it now and don't mind the smell at all. In fact, different blends of vegetables with a little garlic smell great! If you learn how to ferment vegetables yourself, this is a very cost effective way to get your organic vegetables in. Fermented vegetables are packed with vitamins, fiber and enzymes that help with digestion. They are also loaded with beneficial bacteria to help keep your gut flora in check.

5. Eat certified organic vegetables and fruits and grass-fed meats as much as possible. Do whatever you can to reduce the amount of pesticide residue you ingest. Also, unless you're eating organic, you can't be sure that you're not eating genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The point here is to reduce your body's intake of chemicals, growth hormones, antibiotics, and other potentially harmful substances. You want to keep your system as clean as possible.

6. Consume raw, organic dairy. Milk, cheese, butter. Full fat and raw. Milk is a live food. It's important to get to know the dairy farmer you buy from and get to know the laws surrounding raw dairy in your state. I grew up on regular, store bought milk. Now, I only drink milk raw. It tastes better, feels better in my tummy and doesn't leave the scummy feeling in my mouth. If you don't like the idea of consuming raw milk, I recommend cutting milk out of your diet or consuming just organic, plain yogurt. That is at least free of added sugar and full of probiotics.

For some of you, this may be overwhelming... too many big changes. As I always recommend, make just one change at a time if it's too much for you at once. Others will find it easier to just make all the changes whole hog. There are always ways to improve your diet. There are always healthier alternatives. Don't expect your doctor to know about healthy food choices. This is an area where you have do some of your own research and cut through the misinformation to get to the truth.

I hope that some of you will give this a try. Give yourself a month and see how you feel. Try one change and add another a week or month at a time. Maybe do it just for you and add in your other family members as you start to feel great! Find a way to get to better health.

I'm here to support you in your journey! I always welcome your comments and questions and encourage discussion among my readers. Please leave your comments below, and I'll personally respond as soon as I can.

Biographical Note: I am a cancer survivor who came through an easily cured cancer treated with surgery and radiation in 1998. I didn't know any of what I know now. I felt a constant malaise for three years after until I changed my diet. I do know that if I ever have cancer again, I will not go through chemotherapy and radiation. I will turn to food and my mind to heal myself.