Healing foods; do diets actually work?
Discover nutrition and a healing food diet plan that works to keep you healthy
Discovering healing foods were a big move forward in my health recovery plan.
When you decide to overhaul your lifestyle, nutrition and diet are usually the first things that come to your mind. If you Google the word ‘diet’ you’ll find millions of search results on the subject – no wonder it’s so confusing!
Proper nutrition is not about losing weight, but eating the right foods
We’re constantly bombarded with new ‘miracle’ diets. Usually, celebrity endorsed, promising to help us shed pounds but learning about what a healthy and varied diet should look like is near impossible when the information presented to us is so convoluted. Proper nutrition is not about losing weight – it’s about maintaining a healthy weight and optimized health by eating the right foods.
Simple and effective healing foods
To get your head around what you ‘should’ be eating I want you to think back to your ancestors. They knew intuitively how to use healing foods. Thousands of years ago, when factories didn’t exist and processed food wasn’t around, what did people eat? Back then, they lived off fresh fish, meat, fruit, nuts, seeds and vegetables. It was simple and effective.
A diet that works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for others
It’s also worth bearing in mind that we all have a different chemical composition, and a diet that works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for others. Some people must eliminate dairy to find the right balance for their body. Others eliminate gluten and carbohydrates. Others only eat plants based foods.
One person’s medicine can be another one’s poison!
My mantra is “If you can’t read it, don’t eat it!”.
It’s important to listen to your body, observe its reactions to specific foods and food types, and to use that information to design the right diet that works for your composition.
Healing foods and potent nutrition are powerful tools
Nutrition, when handled properly, can be potent – I know of people that have healed themselves of Lyme disease simply through dietary changes! They went on a zero-carb diet and ate only meats, fats and water. While this may sound extreme, these are natural ingredients, and when nothing else works, and you’re desperate, you’ll adopt whatever type of diet that can give you your life back. I’m not saying that following this diet can heal everyone who has Lyme disease, we’re all different, but for my friend, this was the case. Always do what is best for you, and never give up trying. Keep looking for answers. They do exist.
Diet is such a big and varied topic that unfortunately we can’t dig it out in this book. I hope that this chapter has covered the bones of it to get you on the path again of optimal health.
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Every effort has been made to ensure that this book covers a broad range of subjects on health, diet, haircare and holistic lifestyle.
Healing foods to recover your health
Food that heals
During my nutrition and healing journey, I discovered several doctors with an interesting theory on healing the body through food. One of those doctors was Dr Axe, who created The Healing Food Diet. His theory is that we should eat an equal amount of proteins, healthy fats and carbs with a low GI (glycemic index).
Another doctor whose blog I’ve been reading for years is Dr Sarah Ballantyne from The Paleo Mom. Her view is that our daily fat intake should be between 40 to 60 % of our daily calories. I put their advice into practice and can honestly say that it changed my life!
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It’s also important to note that you need to take cues from your body as we are all different. A diet that works for me, may not necessarily be right for you so always bear this in mind. Adapt small changes at a time and see how they make you feel.
The basic tenet of the Dr Axe Healing Food diet is:
- Remove bad fats and replace them with healthy fats
- Change the meat you eat to grass-fed and free-range cuts
- Eliminate all refined sugars and grains
Replace bad fats with healthy fats
This includes hydrogenated oils (including canola and vegetable oil), which can lead to heart disease, diabetes and even cancer. Consuming too much of these oils can also cause chronic inflammation, which can also result in disease. Swap bad fats for good fats, which can help prevent cancer, are anti-inflammatory, promote weight loss, brain developments, cellular healing, and help with hormone production.
As mentioned in a previous chapter Dr Sponaughle explains: “The fattiest organ in our body is our brain which consists of 60 percent fatty content. The fattiest tissue in our body, the myelin sheath on brain neurons and peripheral nerves consists of 80 percent fatty content, 25 percent of which is cholesterol, another reason cholesterol levels below 180 are detrimental to our brain and peripheral nervous system!”
A decade ago, my health was horrible. I’d stopped eating meat and a lot of healthy fats, thinking that it would make me put on more weight. In fact, I couldn’t have been more wrong. My cholesterol was alarmingly low – below 60! And this was another reason why my body couldn’t produce any hormones on its own.
A diet with healthy fats is SO important, and I can honestly say that I’m the living proof of this. And no, eating more fat didn’t make me put on lots of weight, on the contrary, my body is slender, (not skinny) yet strong and healthy.
Replace commercial meat for grass-fed meat
Dr Axe advises steering clear of commercially produced meat in favour of grass-fed and free- range meat. This is because the grain fed to animals that were created to eat grass changes the fatty acid ratios (too much omega-6, not enough omega-3) and denatures good fats, leading to modern day diseases.
Commercial meat also tends to contain pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, and hormones, which can lead to cancer and other chronic illnesses. Is it worth the risk? I’d urge you to always try to buy the best meat you can afford to avoid becoming exposed to these diseases.
Free-range and grass-fed meat is full of healthy fatty acids that are missing in the standard western diet. These fats include omega 3 fatty acids, arachidonic acid, and conjugated linoleic acid.
Eliminate refined sugars and grains
Finally, Dr Axe recommends that we eliminate food like white rice, white pasta, and white bread from our diet. He describes sugar as an ‘anti-nutrient’ which, when consumed, depletes our body’s minerals as they work harder to replace the loss of nutrients.
Cutting out sugar is also essential, but not so easy when you realise that it’s hidden in most of our food, including pasta sauces, bread, soup, fruit juice, canned foods, yoghurt, ketchup, meats, yoghurts, mayonnaise, etc. Sugar robs your body of precious nutrients, leading to illnesses such as chronic fatigue, ADD, ADHD, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
If you follow these three commandments, I promise that you will notice a significant improvement in your general health and happiness.
Empowering others via my anti-ageing wellness platform and holistic wellness books
I hope you liked this article about healing foods. If you would like to learn more about my tips and tricks on how I saved my life from being chronically ill and tired to the lively person I am today, ensure to check out other pages of this anti-ageing wellness platform.
Or if you want to discover my no BS guides on how to regain your health, hair and life, ensure to check out my holistic wellness books on this link.
After a frustrating decade of battling several chronic illnesses, I became disillusioned with the medical system and decided to take my health into my own hands.
Now, through my books and wellness platform, I want to empower people around the world do the same and regain their health, hair, life and beauty!
