HEALTHY EATING

This is one of my favorite subjects--next to Converting a Basic Stock House Plan into an Eco-House Plan!   It will take some time to compile all the information I would like to share so I thought I would start with some DVDs that anyone can purchase, as well as the websites that go along with these DVDs.  I believe these DVDs and websites should be shared in all schools and universities.  Unfortunately it is not likely as SICK PEOPLE are BIG BUSINESS in the USA and slowly becoming bigger business throughout the rest of the world!  Physicians barely get ANY training in nutrition, despite the fact that healthy eating is a prerequisite for good health!  Two of the largest industries in the USA (if not THE largest) are the medical and pharmaceutical industries.  They want you to have some information, but not too much.   Not good business to give the people too much information.  As Hypocrites said:  "Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food".  These big industries do NOT want you to realize that so they constantly give conflicting 'advice'.

The biggest problems with eating in this new world are : (1) a typical diet consisting of more than 50% non-food items.  These are processed foods found everywhere and consist of everything from Twinkies to spaghetti sauce (hard to find one without high fructose corn syrup or one of its derivatives) to fast food (think french fries and milk shakes) to prepared dinners to processed desserts.  People rarely realize just how little real food is in these items!  Our poor bodies are literally STARVING for needed nutrients which is one reason why we eat too much.  Also most people do not realize that companies literally add enough of known addictive ingredients to ensure you will keep coming back for more. (2) a typical diet that includes way too many animal products and too much animal protein.  Be sure to pick up a copy of "The China Study" book (linked to below).  This study was not backed by a government, or the medical, meat, dairy or pharmaceutical industries.  It was a pure study based on information gathering and assembling--taking 20+ years to gather, and nearly another 10 years to assemble and put into book format.  This was started decades ago--in China--before there were many (if any) processed non-food items available, and before many unhealthy habits took hold.  It is about as 'pure' a study as you will find and the results are quite conclusive.  The more animal products consumed, the more disease you will find--especially heart health and cancer.  It is time for humankind to wake up and realize we are what we eat and if we want good health, we will need to eat a GOOD whole foods diet--with MUCH less sugar, processed foods, and animal products.   (3) we tend to eat a totally incorrect proportion of food items.   At the minimum, half of our foods each day should be raw whole fruits and vegetable and eat very little to no animal products.  The typical American tends to eat almost the opposite--the majority of people I know eat so little fruits and vegetables that they are likely to take a week, or even a month, to eat what they should be getting on a daily basis.  Anyway, before I go any further, I strongly suggest checking out these websites and DVDs.  Many can be purchased used from Amazon and then shared with friends, keeping costs to a minimum.   Also if you search, many of these videos can be watched on your computer for free!  Check back for more information.  I will continue to add more over time.

Forks over Knives
Forks over Knives DVD
Forks over Knives Instant Video
Forks Over Knives Book

Following are some long-term longevity studies vs health outcome
EPIC Study
Adventists Health Study
THE CHINA STUDY book

The above are the REAL studies to be looked at.
These are done very simply--diet vs health and longevity.
None of us live in a laboratory or experience one thing at a time.
We all live very complicated lives that change daily.
These are the studies that tell us how diet affects us long term.
They are quite enlightening.

Hungry for Change DVD

Food Matters DVD

Happy Herbivore website

Food Inc. DVD

The Gerson Miracle DVD

Vegucated DVD

PlanEat DVD

Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. MD website

If you want to learn about juicing, the following is a great DVD to watch:

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead DVD

Whether you want to juice or just want to make a very occasional healthy juice, here are a couple of good juicers:

Breville JE98XL
Hurom Slow Juicer (my favorite--does it all)
Cuisinart CJE-1000
Omega VRT350

So far as proportion goes, there are plates you can buy that show proper proportions.  Here are examples of those plates:

The protein section contains plant proteins such as nuts, beans and legumes. There is a large section that is fruits and vegetables.  The other section contains grains and starches.  Both show water for a drink but tea and black coffee are good, along with fortified milk substitutes such as rice, soy or almond.  I think it is okay to occasionally eat animal products, but in the USA we eat entirely too much.  I tend to limit myself to holidays only, with a very occasional egg or fish (salmon, tuna, etc.) in addition to the holiday 'free' days.  The total amount of animal protein I eat in a year tends to be about the same as what the typical American eats in a week.

Another huge problem is portion!  The average person does NOT know what a serving is.  Restaurants go so overboard, and although most of us realize they are giving us much more than a serving, most do not realize just HOW much more!    Below is a typical idea of what a serving is vs. what a proper portion is.  I use as an example what the typical American eats as it is easier to recognize the difference.  Please also recognize how tiny the 'vegetable' portion is as compared to the rest of the plate!   By far the most nutrient dense foods make up the tiniest part of our diet leaving our bodies literally starving for nutrients--hence we overeat.  Our body is desperately telling us it is nutrient-deficient and demanding we eat more and more in order to try to make up this deficit.  Unfortunately we then eat more nutrient-deficient food making our body demand that we eat even more--a vicious cycle that won't let up until our body gets the nutrients it needs--or as close as is feasibly possible.  Add the addictive factor of what is put in processed food and we end up a bunch of drug addicts forever looking for our next 'sugar drug fix'.   Then we wonder why the medical and pharmaceutical industries are so huge??   They are busy giving us pills and doing surgery in an effort to slow the damage most of us are doing to our bodies.  Funny how most of us take better care of our vehicles than we do our own bodies!!

Here is the food pyramid that should be shown to elementary school and college students, as well as adults.  Unfortunately the government will not go against the huge meat and dairy industries so you will not see this pyramid in school--at least NOT as better choice or even as an excellent alternative. 

I could go on and on, but all of this information can be found in the websites listed above and thousands of other websites.  The basis of this page is to help people BE AWARE that the government is NOT going to tell us the truth because of the negative effect it will have on the meat, dairy, medical and pharmaceutical industries.   You ARE helping support those industries and the government LOVES it!   Why would they say anything that will reduce that support?  This also explains why there are so many conflicting reports.   Americans, as a whole, tend to take such poor care of their own health that it is nearly impossible to do a study and get a consistent result.  Many too many factors have to be taken into effect and as soon as one factor changes, the results change.  That is why it is best to look at a study that does not have government or the medical industry involved--in a society that at the time, had much less of those confounding factors (such as smoking, psychotropic and other drugs, processed foods, etc.).  The CHINA STUDY did just that and in the nick of time.  Over the past several decades their diet and lifestyle has changed and is getting ever more like what Americans have been experiencing for quite some time.  And unfortunately, their health has deteriorated, just like ours.

The last thing I would like to address is TASTE.  I would like people to be more AWARE that taste is CHOSEN--you literally CHOOSE what it is that you DO  LIKE.  How many of us can remember what coffee or alcohol tasted like the first time we tried it?  It was different and therefore we did not think it tasted 'good'.  Those who hated it most never tried it again and STILL believe it tastes terrible!  Most of us eventually kept trying it and over time we developed a taste for it--most of us finding certain coffees or alcohol that are even more to our own tastes.  Regardless that liking of coffee or alcohol was developed.   I hear the majority of people saying "but I like this so I'm going to eat it".  Well of course you like it--it is BECAUSE you eat it!   Once you begin to eat a whole foods diet, the same thing will happen.  You will start to like the food more and more until the processed foods you WERE eating no longer taste good.  We all like what we eat, so we may as well like the nutrient-dense foods that our body needs.  Ask someone who absolutely LOVED cheese all their lives and then decides to eat a whole-foods diet with very little animal product.   After 6 months eating cheese tastes and feels like eating a block of grease!!!

TASTE IS ACQUIRED--WE LIKE WHAT WE EAT!!

TAKE THE CHALLENGE!

Forks Over Knives has a brand new book coming out September 16th, 2014.  This book will help you develop a healthier style of eating over a 4-week period of time--meal by meal. You can preorder this book here:

THE FORKS OVER KNIVES PLAN

I could not help myself.  Here is a very typical receipt of groceries purchased by someone I know--retrieved out of the garbage and scanned.   This amount of food will be consumed in just a few days (except as typical most of the oranges and potatoes will be eventually be thrown out) and I assure you, nothing else will be consumed unless eaten at a fast food restaurant.  This is an excellent example of the typical Standard American Diet (SAD DIET).  Loaded with animal products, highly processed foods and sugar drinks--and absolutely NO green leafy or other vegetables!   This is a great example of how we should NOT be eating -- and we wonder why the medical and pharmaceutical industries are booming??!!!