So start making the world a better place, by starting to make yourself more energetic and self-confident, by eating the right food in the right way.
All of us living in the 21st Century need to know is that it is very easy to over-eat or -drink on carbohydrates, because they are a form of sugar and sugar is addictive. So learn more about how you can rid yourself of this addiction and start on a fresh page. Your body will be grateful! And your energy-levels will surge.
You may know that cool-drinks, white bread, chips and sweets are about as low as you can go in terms of food. Yet, far too many parents give their kids some pocket money to buy something at the school tuck shop - not realizing that this is laying the foundation for a life-time of struggle with weight, possibly diabetes, later cholesterol and related heart disease!
STOP TODAY!
Instead, make sure your kid and the rest of your family understand what I am writing about here:
Instead, make sure your kid and the rest of your family understand what I am writing about here:
I was a skinny kid, but I practically lived on my mom's oat crunchies when I was home for the weekends and holidays: sugar and carbohydrates. Because I lived in a hostel my whole school-going life, I had not much control over what I got to eat and generally speaking the hostel food was quite healthy. However, when I was 16 we were allowed to walk to town one afternoon a week and I had some pocket money. This is where my chocolate addiction started. I'd buy a slab of chocolate and eat it up before I was back in the hostel again! During my teenage years this did not affect my weight, since there were a lot of sport activities and I was never a big eater, but in looking back I can see that this 'unthinking' behaviour was the cause for much of my weight problems later in life.
So when I got to university in Pretoria, I discovered that chocolate was my 'comfort food'. Feeling very much 'out of my skin' in the new city environment and missing the structured, safe life of a small farming community, I ended up eating a slab of chocolate a day! Needless to say, my smooth skin broke out and by the end of my first year I had gained 13kg. This had a huge negative effect on my self-image, so I practically withdrew from my old circle of friends, who all seemed to cope so much better and food became my main source of comfort.
Even though I was a medical student at the time, I didn't know that I had triggered my insulin switch by eating too much carbohydrate-rich food, and that as a result, my weight - and because of that - my whole life was starting to spin out of control. From weighing 54kg when I started at university I ended up 24kg heavier at 78kg, when I was 25! So in seven years I had gained about 3.5kg per year. Many people yearn back to the time of their youth, but in my life, the time between 18-25 years of age were the worst years of my life!
Everyone who has been overweight knows the dieting 'yo-yo' that starts with 'food deprivation' and ends with 'binges', and each time we go on a binge, what do we eat? Fruit and vegetables? No! We eat carbohydrates: sugars and starch - usually combined with fat in cookies, chocolates and chips. Guys often go on 'beer binges' - again, beer is sheer carbohydrate. Add to that the alcohol, and the cycle of addiction is complete.
Mercifully, when I was 25 years old when I discovered a book titled Fit for Life
written by Harvey & Marilyn Diamond, at Exclusive Books and for the first time I had a source of information that made absolute sense, when it came to food.
One concept that I've never forgotten is that they emphasized that food is the fuel for our body and also the 'material' of which we are made. 'You are what you eat' suddenly made a lot of sense to me. At that time I was a solid piece of chocolate. I preferred to sit down, because I had very little energy.
'Fit for Life' really changed the way I looked at food. I realized that I had started using food for other purposes (comfort), instead of for fuel and that this is why I ended up overweight and low on energy. This couple taught a whole generation of people in the late 80's about the 'Body Clock' - explaining the normal 'rhythm' of our digestive system and what we need to do to help our body handle its 'natural hygiene'. 'Fit For Life' teaches three key secrets to healthy eating habits:
1) Follow your 'Body Clock':
Your body takes in food, digests it, cleans your digestive system, then needs to take a rest. The idea is that you support this rhythm, not confuse it. So, have fruit for breakfast and in the morning, while your digestive system is resting, since this is the most easily digestible food and gives you energy when you need it most. From 12:00 you can eat other foods until about 20:00. Then don't eat after that time, since now the body is trying to digest everything properly. Your body cleans the digestive system from 02:00 in the morning until about 06:00 and then it needs a time to rest the digestive system, until about 12:00 again. And so the cycle continues.
2) Don't mix proteien and carbohydrate:
I can't believe that almost 25 years after this knowledge became available, restaurants STILL do not offer meals where proteien and carbohydrates are not served together! This is the single most effective way of helping your digestive system to work properly, which in turn speeds up your metabolism and really burns off fat. Everyone is still used to the 'old' way of eating meat, potatoes and veggies, instead of adjusting to proper food combining, i.e. combine veggies with carbohydrates and meat with veggies, but don't mix proteien and carbohydrate. Cheese sandwich: NO. Egg, bacon and toast: NO. Hamburgers and chips: NO. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you've learnt about useful proteiens like beans and other legumes, which can be combined with carbohydrates, life becomes a lot easier.
3) Don't mix fruit with anything else!
To get the full benefits of the vitamins and minerals in God's perfect food - fruit - don't mix it with anything else! The reason for this is that if fruit gets in touch with dairy products, or starches or any other type of food, it starts fermenting in your body, slowing down the digestive process overall and making you feel bloated. Again, this is something we hardly ever find in restaurants, who continue to serve fruit milkshakes or fruit salad and ice cream or apple pie - all things that taste good, but make our bodies sloggish. Fortunately, if we eat fruit on its own, it takes only 30 minutes to shoot through our digestive system. So if you really have to have a coffee or eat a piece of bread, at least wait for half an hour after eating your fruit, so that your body may have the full benefit of the vitamins and minerals and you avoid any feeling of being bloated.
Once I started following these basic principles, my body lost 8kg in the first four weeks and then another 8kg over the next four months, then my weight stabilised at between 56-58kg. So by the time I was 26 years old, at least I was back at a weight that was normal for me. Also, from that time onward I had more energy than anyone around me! Even better, I never had any weight issue again after that until a few years ago when my lifestyle became extremely stressful and erratic, and I started using Cappucino's, Croissants and Chocolate again as a daily crutch...
I started taking control of my life again a couple of months ago, simply by following the above simple rules and am back to my normal weight again. So I've just again proven - more than 20 years later - that combining food the right way really is the best way to eat!
However, what is interesting is that in recent years it seems as if, while there is no argument about fruit still being the best breakfast food, nutritional science is leaning more and towards avoiding carbohydrates as much as possible, and focusing on eating meals that only contain proteien and veggies.
Dr Johnny Bowden is a nutritionist who teaches that carbohydrates are the culprits in pushing our insulin levels sky-high, which results in us craving sweets and carbohydrates.
written by Harvey & Marilyn Diamond, at Exclusive Books and for the first time I had a source of information that made absolute sense, when it came to food.
One concept that I've never forgotten is that they emphasized that food is the fuel for our body and also the 'material' of which we are made. 'You are what you eat' suddenly made a lot of sense to me. At that time I was a solid piece of chocolate. I preferred to sit down, because I had very little energy.'Fit for Life' really changed the way I looked at food. I realized that I had started using food for other purposes (comfort), instead of for fuel and that this is why I ended up overweight and low on energy. This couple taught a whole generation of people in the late 80's about the 'Body Clock' - explaining the normal 'rhythm' of our digestive system and what we need to do to help our body handle its 'natural hygiene'. 'Fit For Life' teaches three key secrets to healthy eating habits:
1) Follow your 'Body Clock':
Your body takes in food, digests it, cleans your digestive system, then needs to take a rest. The idea is that you support this rhythm, not confuse it. So, have fruit for breakfast and in the morning, while your digestive system is resting, since this is the most easily digestible food and gives you energy when you need it most. From 12:00 you can eat other foods until about 20:00. Then don't eat after that time, since now the body is trying to digest everything properly. Your body cleans the digestive system from 02:00 in the morning until about 06:00 and then it needs a time to rest the digestive system, until about 12:00 again. And so the cycle continues.
2) Don't mix proteien and carbohydrate:
I can't believe that almost 25 years after this knowledge became available, restaurants STILL do not offer meals where proteien and carbohydrates are not served together! This is the single most effective way of helping your digestive system to work properly, which in turn speeds up your metabolism and really burns off fat. Everyone is still used to the 'old' way of eating meat, potatoes and veggies, instead of adjusting to proper food combining, i.e. combine veggies with carbohydrates and meat with veggies, but don't mix proteien and carbohydrate. Cheese sandwich: NO. Egg, bacon and toast: NO. Hamburgers and chips: NO. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you've learnt about useful proteiens like beans and other legumes, which can be combined with carbohydrates, life becomes a lot easier.
3) Don't mix fruit with anything else!
To get the full benefits of the vitamins and minerals in God's perfect food - fruit - don't mix it with anything else! The reason for this is that if fruit gets in touch with dairy products, or starches or any other type of food, it starts fermenting in your body, slowing down the digestive process overall and making you feel bloated. Again, this is something we hardly ever find in restaurants, who continue to serve fruit milkshakes or fruit salad and ice cream or apple pie - all things that taste good, but make our bodies sloggish. Fortunately, if we eat fruit on its own, it takes only 30 minutes to shoot through our digestive system. So if you really have to have a coffee or eat a piece of bread, at least wait for half an hour after eating your fruit, so that your body may have the full benefit of the vitamins and minerals and you avoid any feeling of being bloated.
Once I started following these basic principles, my body lost 8kg in the first four weeks and then another 8kg over the next four months, then my weight stabilised at between 56-58kg. So by the time I was 26 years old, at least I was back at a weight that was normal for me. Also, from that time onward I had more energy than anyone around me! Even better, I never had any weight issue again after that until a few years ago when my lifestyle became extremely stressful and erratic, and I started using Cappucino's, Croissants and Chocolate again as a daily crutch...
I started taking control of my life again a couple of months ago, simply by following the above simple rules and am back to my normal weight again. So I've just again proven - more than 20 years later - that combining food the right way really is the best way to eat!
However, what is interesting is that in recent years it seems as if, while there is no argument about fruit still being the best breakfast food, nutritional science is leaning more and towards avoiding carbohydrates as much as possible, and focusing on eating meals that only contain proteien and veggies.
Dr Johnny Bowden is a nutritionist who teaches that carbohydrates are the culprits in pushing our insulin levels sky-high, which results in us craving sweets and carbohydrates.
Here is a video in which he explains why he believes that human beings should only eat from the following four food groups: "Anything you can hunt, gather, fish or pluck." - that is fruit, vegetables and proteien. So, basically, avoiding any form of processed foods, including grains that are turned into flour.
As someone who really does not like meat, I'm very happy to know that proteien is also found in non-animal sources, like beans, soya, peas, nuts and mushrooms. But sticking to a vegan diet and still getting enough iron is really impractical, so a bit of fish every now and again, or a bit of chicken or meat for carnivores, is a good idea.
I appreciate this new knowledge, because I could see that, while under stress, I was getting addicted to carbohydrates again. So avoiding carbohydrates altogether seems like a good idea under those circumstances, when your mental and emotional resources are low. You don't want Insulin to start pushing you into negative habits again!
The bottom line is: to have more energy and to help your body to achieve and stay at its ideal weight, know what 'fuel' your body needs and when and how to eat it. Also, don't use food as a 'comforter'. It's just a fuel. Find other ways to handle your stress or frustration or lack of self-confidence or loneliness or disappointments.
PS: Another interesting thing I've learnt during the past couple of years is that the right nutritional supplements can make a huge difference to how you look and feel! But more about that in my next blog.
I appreciate this new knowledge, because I could see that, while under stress, I was getting addicted to carbohydrates again. So avoiding carbohydrates altogether seems like a good idea under those circumstances, when your mental and emotional resources are low. You don't want Insulin to start pushing you into negative habits again!
The bottom line is: to have more energy and to help your body to achieve and stay at its ideal weight, know what 'fuel' your body needs and when and how to eat it. Also, don't use food as a 'comforter'. It's just a fuel. Find other ways to handle your stress or frustration or lack of self-confidence or loneliness or disappointments.
PS: Another interesting thing I've learnt during the past couple of years is that the right nutritional supplements can make a huge difference to how you look and feel! But more about that in my next blog.
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