Hmmm! Delicious!!! Food is one of the true pleasures in life. The tastes. The smell. Mouthwatering presentation. Just another mouthful... Stop! Wake-up! Are you sure you want to put THAT into your body?!
Our bodies are magnificent ‘machines’ that are designed to run smoothly. They are the container for everything we are: our physical body, our mind, our emotions and our spirit. Sadly, few people know that when God created us, he gave a few basic instructions on how to use this body. Check out Genesis 1 v 29. Later, he realized that we’re not yet quite figuring it out and he added what is known as the Ten Commandments. They are described in Deuteronomy 5 v 6-21. In fact, the Bible is really nothing but a ‘User Manual’ for being human, the way our Maker planned it.
All the laws that were created in the Old Testament were aimed at helping people to live healthier, more conscious lives and to keep the environment intact. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ summarized all these different laws into two simple laws: Love God above everything else. Love your neighbour, as you love yourself. (Matthew 22:36-40).
In caring for our bodies, and in making sure that they have the maximum energy, ‘loving ourselves’ is critical! We have to love ourselves enough to make choices that are healthy for our body.
When I grew up, food was nothing you really thought about. It was there in abundance, growing in the vegetable garden. I also have vivid childhood memories of seeing a chicken being be-headed and running around headless! Our lunch... My mom rarely had to go out and buy food. Fresh home-baked, whole-wheat bread was the norm and therefore rather boring. Soft, white bread from the local shop was a major treat! If I'd known then what I know now, I would have proudly avoided the temptation of that white bread. All jams and cookies were home-made. Rows of bottles of peach preserves and apple sauce were regularly standing all over the kitchen table, waiting to be closed. The same approach was taken in the boarding school I attended at Primary School. Farmers would regularly bring loads of fresh fruit and veggies to donate to the hostel kitchen. Meat was available too, but carefully rationed when I was a child. It's only when I became a teenager and there was more money to go round, that endless 'braais' (barbeques) on weekends with lots of meat and beer became the norm.
Needless to say, I and all my fellow kids at school, were really healthy. No chubbiness in sight. We didn’t have to think about what we ate, because everything available was fresh, straight from the garden or farm.
When I got to university, my relationship to food changed. I had never learnt about nutrition, because good nutrition was just plain common sense where I came from. In the city, this was different. Processed foods were new and exciting and took less time to prepare. Chocolate bars were tempting at every street corner. On top of that it was quite ‘uncool’ to drink tap water. Soft drinks were the norm instead. I didn’t do it consciously, but I was certainly busy messing up my figure. At the end of that year I had gained 10kg – almost one kilogram each month!
Suddenly the word ‘diet’, that before I had only read about in magazines which were describing a world so far removed from my farm-life upbringing, became reality to me. My older sister, who had gone through a similar ordeal, by then was an ‘old hand’ at dieting. Crash diets. Fad diets. Food supplements. I think most of our money was spent on ‘diet foods’ and our weight played see-saw tricks with us!
In my second year as a medical student I started working to help pay my way: two nights a week in the academic hospital linked to the university; two nights a week waitressing in a Steak House. This had a huge impact on my diet. The fact that the Emergency Ward and the Steak House kitchen were smelling the same put me off meat for life! But despite going vegetarian, I still gained weight, because I was following my tastebuds when shopping – I didn’t know any better!
Things got worse when I went to Germany as an Au Pair. I now really learnt what the term ‘comfort food’ meant. Homesick and lonely, I ate up all the cookies of the poor kids I had to look after. Maybe that was a good thing, because both of them stayed normal and have by now grown into very healthy, gorgeous young people. I, on the other hand, was paying the price for my greed! By mid-year I could only fit into one last pair of jeans that I had borrowed from my sister and that had been loose when I arrived in Germany. And even then I had to lie down to pull it on!
When I came back from that year overseas I did what I have always done since then, whenever I faced a challenge. I stormed into the nearest good bookshop and started looking for a book. This time I wanted one on losing weight. Fortunately, destiny guided me to find ‘Fit for Life’ by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. This has been my yardstick for healthy eating ever since then.
Their focus was on energy, not on weight loss. But true enough, after following their guidelines, I started losing weight at a rate of 13kg in 8 weeks. The rest I lost over time, but since then my weight has stayed more or less in the same normal range. And my energy levels have been higher than anyone else’s I know, ever since then!
It really is worth it to read the book, but here are the main principles:
Our bodies function according to a ‘Body Clock’. They have a rhythm, as should we:
- From 06h00-12h00 – the digestive system prefers to rest and heal itself. During this time bloodflow to the brain or muscles is at its peak, because we’re busy concentrating or working hard.
- From 12h00-20h00 – it is ready to take in food again. But a light lunch makes it easier for the body to digest the food. Bloodflow to brain and muscles is still needed for concentration and physical work.
- From 20h00-02h00 – it digests food best, because all blood can be directed to it.
- 02h00 – 06h00 – the digestive system cleans itself and gets rid of all waste material. This is why we sweat during the night, have a bad taste on our tongues in the morning and need to run to the loo when we wake up: our body is cleansing itself through the skin, tongue, kidneys and gut.
If we want to optimize our energy levels AND help our bodies to keep us healthy and slim, we need to respect this rhythm. It’s as easy as that.
Now, the most modern nutrition studies are proving a few things, that we can use to help our body function optimally.
Firstly, we need to know WHY we are eating WHAT:
- Fruit & veggies (preferably fresh and raw): for vitamins and minerals to keep all body functions in tip-top working order and to repair our organs continuously. They also contain lots of water, so they help to keep us hydrated and humming along at top energy levels.
Proteien (animal and vegetable): to build our muscles and also growing our organs when we’re young and keeping them maintained when we’re fully grown. We need very little proteien to keep us in top shape once we’re older. Animal proteien sadly causes acidity in our bodies. So avoid as much as possible. Beans, mushrooms, soya and nuts are much more useful for our bodies. - Carbohydrates (starches): for physical movement. These are all types of foods that turn into sugar, and if we don’t use them, they are the ones that turn into fat! This includes all forms of grain and all sugars.
- Fat & Oils: the only fat we benefit from is the fat that helps to form a shield around the nerves in our nervous system. All fats that are solid at room temperature are not healthy for us! Cold-pressed vegetable oils like Olive oil are great. Processed oils using heat (most other oils, including Peanut Butter) are not the best for us. The only animal ‘fat’ that is useful to our body is oil from certain types of fish. All other fat just messes up our digestive system and clogs up our veins with cholesterol.
Secondly, we need to know that, unless we are marathon runners or do heavy manual work, our daily menu should consist of 70% fruit and vegetables, 15% carbohydrates, 10% proteien and 5% fat. Meat and Potatoes just aren’t suitable for a modern, mainly sedentary lifestyle! Overweight and heart disease is the result.
Thirdly, we also need to understand that our body needs to have an alkaline PH to be healthy. If we allow our bodies to become acid through our diet, we must not be surprised if we fall ill! Stress already causes acidity levels to rise, so our job is to counter that through food that keeps acidity levels down and exercise. Veggies and fruit are alkaline, except when cooked. Then some of the veggies and all fruit become acid too! Sugars (carbohydrates) and Proteien (animal proteien) cause acid. We need to balance our diets to have MORE alkaline foods.
Fourthly, as you know our digestive system produces digestive juices (enzymes) to break down our food into a form that our body can use. Now, to break down proteien, our body produces acid stomach juices. And to break down carbohydrates, it produces alkaline juices. This is all good and well, but what happens if you add lemon juice (acid) to tea (alkaline)? The two neutralize one another! This means that if you eat meat and potatoes at the same time, you are really draining your bodies energy, because your digestive system is pumping more of both: the acid juice tries to digest the meat, and the alkaline juice is trying to break down the potato. They are getting in each other’s way! As a result all blood flows to the digestive system to bring more oxygen to provide the energy for this tug-of-war inside you. This is why, after a good old-fashioned Sunday lunch, everyone wants to have a nap. And, if you mix these two during workday week lunches, you’ll find that you have hardly any energy left in the afternoon.
The trick is: eat salad and bread for lunch or soup and bread and keep your protein for the evening, again together with veggies. Here’s a secret: if you have a vegetarian proteien, you can happily mix it with carbohydrates, because it is digested by either acid or alkaline and still function on optimum energy!
So, there it is: your perfect food plan for maximum energy! I know, because ever since I discovered this knowledge and applied it in my life, I’ve had more energy than anyone I know. Try it out – you’ll simply feel better. And teach everyone around you to do the same. If you’re creative, your family won’t even notice the difference on the daily menu. They’ll just start losing excess weight and become more energetic too, starting with hubby...
Apparently Plato, one of the famous Greek Philosophers, said: ''Master your tongue (tastebuds and negative speech) and you master life."
I can certainly vouch for that!
PS: Click on this link to order your copy of 'Fit for Life' Fit for LifeFit for Life from Amazon.
PS PS: Once you’ve taken control of your diet, take control of your time and finances. Learn more about an Internet Business opportunity that will help you do this at www.reinedelarose.com
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