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Here’s To Your Health:
You Are What You Eat
By Jane Fredette
You are what you eat is not a joke. What I now eat has brought me back to life and vitality. I am a nutritional consultant and studied with The Global Institute of Alternative Medicine. I was diagnosed with lupus and fibromyalgia in 1981. It was a foggy 23 years up until the last few years of my life. Feeling sick on a daily basis, working and taking care of two children brought me to crash and burn more times than I can remember. Trying every vitamin, mineral and herbal therapy was my goal in reaching a more manageable state of health. Vitamins, minerals, and certain herbs are very important for building up the immune system, along with the right foods and their combinations. I dug a bit deeper into food, its properties and abilities to heal, mend and even change an existing condition. To my surprise I was hurting myself more by my food choices and combinations, causing more pain and discomfort. I did not eat junk food, nor did I eat fried foods, but my combinations of foods were lethal to my health. This way of eating applies to everyone, especially those fighting auto immune, or any other diseases.
Acidosis is the state my body was in. Acidosis is caused by the use of medications, the wrong foods, and wrong food combinations. There are alkaline forming foods and acid forming foods. Some acid foods are dairy, red meat, sugar, artificial sweetener, soda pop, caffeine, tobacco, all processed food including white pasta, white rice and white flour. These foods also help to keep the colon unhealthy. The colon must be kept clean of accumulated acid wastes. These are just a few products that keep our bodies from its innate sense to heal. These foods not only cause acid in the body but also do damage on a cellular level. Consuming processed foods on a regular basis sets the stage for disease down the road. The body can only take so much and then it starts to break down—here are just a few signs of acidosis: acne, muscular pain, cold hands and feet, low energy, food allergies, bloating, gas, constipation, hives, asthma, irregular heartbeat, arthritis and chron’s disease.
Alkaline forming foods are: watermelon, apples, bananas, mangos, grapes, citrus fruits, carrots, celery, salad greens, spinach, squash, and countless others.
Combining your foods and drinking plenty of fresh water daily is crucial in maintaining good health. For those with auto immune disorders, certain foods can aggravate an existing condition. Some of these are blueberries, plums, oranges, tomatoes, eggplant and green pepper. These foods were in my diet daily, and when I eliminated them, experienced less pain and depression.
Here are some simple rules to get you started:
Milk and cheese – If you cannot give these foods up, use only grain fed-antibiotic hormone free products. Otherwise these products contain pus and blood from infected udders that seep into our food. These foods are also acidic, and hard to digest and eliminate. We do not need these added burdens as they tax the immune system. Organic soy milk or rice milk are better choices and digest much easier.
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All other flesh foods including chicken, and any other birds, eggs, fish, and the like, should also be grain fed and free range. |
| Check labels on cans and boxes; if they contain more than what the food actually is, don’t eat it. In other words, no processed foods. |
| Do not combine starch and protein; they do not combine well together, and are extremely acid forming. An example of the wrong combinations would be meat or chicken with bread, potatoes or rice. Starch and protein have a separate set of enzymes to digest and break down food properly. Combining starch and proteins causes fermentation in the stomach and produces a climate for toxins. When starch and protein sit in the stomach for too long, the colon becomes impacted with waste materials. This vicious cycle can cause auto intoxification. Waste acids that are not eliminated are reabsorbed from the colon into the liver and put back into general circulation. Combine meats and other flesh foods with vegetables and salad. |
| Eat fruit alone; fruit digests within a half hour and is best eaten alone. |
| Do not mix fruits and vegetables together; fresh fruits are digested quickly while some vegetables can take up to three hours. |
| Do not mix fruits and starches, like figs, raisins or bananas together with breads; they will ferment in the stomach and cause an acid reaction. |
| Do eat 3-4 servings of fruits and vegetables daily—no excuses! It is not hard to cart apples, bananas or raw vegetables to work. |
| Do drink purified water daily. Half of your weight in ounces is best. |
This way of eating sounds complicated, but is not. The trick is to slowly eliminate things from your palate. You will not believe the energy that follows after getting rid of the foods we discussed. I have never seen anyone disappointed after taking this health plunge! Once you eat this way, the foods you once ate will seem less appealing and lifeless for your health.
Jane is a Certified Nutritionist, and an auto-immune deficiency (lupus) survivor. Currently she works for Pharmanex, the top rated supplement provider according to consumer watch.com, and P.D.R. listed (the only supplement listed in the Physicians Desk Reference). jfredette7@comcast.net. (586) 773-9017. |
