My initial intention for this book was to show that an unhealthy lifestyle and junk food are the main causes of obesity and chronic diseases. But in fact I know many people who eat junk or whatever they like who are still healthy and look good. So I came to the conclusion that these are people who were breastfed from healthy mothers, and probably grew up with homemade food and were given no antibiotics during childhood. The most important thing to know is that there is no specific diet that works exactly the same for everyone. That’s why a lot of diet’s today that follow strict guidelines don’t always work for every person. It is crucial for everyone to have some knowledge about the content and the combination of food and to follow the signals of the body and find out how it works best with your own body.
Here is a scenario which proves how you can ruin your life as a result of unhealthy eating:
Let’s say after overeating you get a stomachache. To block the pain you take a painkiller. But as a side effect of the drug you get a headache. To cure headaches you take Aspirin and it additionally damages your stomach. A few years later you can develop ulcers from a poor diet and overuse of medicines. Doctors prescribe you a new medication and a dairy diet which is popular for stomach ulcers. Meantime you continue to eat the same way and use plenty of medicines. Imagine now your ulcers get so bad you need an operation. You continue to eat the same as before and as recommended you keep up the intake of dairy but now that causes development of atherosclerosis and high blood pressure. To reduce the blood pressure you are given new drugs with side effects nausea, drowsiness and weight gain. This all results in a huge impact on your health and causes a vicious circle of ill health and can affect yourself and your family. Now your partner worries about you keeling over after a heart attack and your kids look at you as an unhealthy old person who can’t play with them anymore.
Now imagine the same scenario but taking healthier decisions:
After getting stomach pains you skip the next meal, instead drink hot soup or drink mint tea and plan to stop eating food that causes you pain and discomfort and most importantly deciding not to overeat. Establish which foods cause you discomfort and try to avoid them. As you start to eat properly you will not develop ulcers and have to suffer from headaches or increase your risk of atherosclerosis. You do not need to use drugs and you lose weight, look good and you can focus on spending quality time with your family.
Doesn’t that sound like a much brighter outcome?
I am guided by the understanding that food plays a key role in our health. My deep conviction is that diseases come from a poor diet, from environmental pollution but also from the excessive use of prescription drugs, antibiotics and even synthetic and inorganic vitamins and minerals. Taking large amounts of these minerals and synthetic vitamins causes the body's need for additional protein, fat, carbohydrates and water, which means more food. And this again leads to obesity. Unfortunately scientific understanding of how food affects our health is still quite limited and it is based on research that often contradicts itself and usually based on what diet is trending at the moment. Some of this research is funded by large corporations, giants in food production.
To me food is directly responsible for the correct functioning of your body. The quality and quantity, energy content of the food, the taste, the flavor and structure has physiological and psychological effects. Let not forget that consuming the appropriate amount of food and clean water allow us to reach maximum potential health as much as our genetics allow it. The theory that some food is “good” and some “bad” is wrong, as our reality is variable and inconsistent. Yet it depends on how we listen to our body and interpret what is our correct eating plan.
Your body is wise. Humans know much more that we realize about ourselves. Our senses are directed outwards and when we receive signals from the body we usually go to see doctor. As subconscious signals are nonverbal, our very verbal society ignores them and declares them as irrelevant and unreal. For me it is normal to trust my inner feelings and impulses. For example before I begin to eat I try the food first. And if I feel it is not pleasing, I do not touch it.
So I try the same with other things in my life. I use my bodily sensations for feedback and outline to adjust the way I act. You must decide individually which food feels good and which does not. It’s not a coincidence that we either love or hate certain foods. This is a subconscious signal from our body that the food we don’t like is not good for us. It is important not to forbid ourselves to eat any food because this causes the pendulum effect. For example by prohibiting eating cake I force myself to eat something else, but my thoughts are still on the cake and I do not feel satisfied. That is why I don’t do anything drastic and I try to have nutritional balance and almost always refrain… but not constantly.
So do not be harsh and extreme on yourself as a strict discipline will sway you back more severely. If you start to eat properly just give your body time to change and do not stress it out but give it the opportunity to find balance. Visible initial results are expected only in month or two. Let the process slowly develop so that it will be long lasting. In case you decide to quit sugar suddenly, you should consider that you may feel tired or depressed, just like trying to give up other vices. These symptoms will subside but if you continue to put one teaspoon of sugar in your coffee or tea, the addiction will remain. Try replacing sugary snacks with dates or dried fruit to satisfy your desire for sweets.
Let’s Look at Principle One in more detail
Do not mix proteins and carbohydrates in a meal together
This principle is based on the fact that proteins aren’t very well digested if mixed in a meal with carbohydrates and vice versa. The main reason for it is that carbohydrates need an alkaline environment for their complete digestion and on the other hand proteins need acid. Digestion as a process is performed in three parts of our body- mouth, stomach and in our small intestine. The process starts when we have eaten something. First we chew and some of us directly swallow. The carbohydrates’ recession starts immediately in our mouth where an enzyme contained in the alkaline saliva dissolves them and only grinds proteins to small pieces. Interesting enough is that the human body produces 10000 lt of saliva in a life time.
Most gastric juices have a neutral to high acid PH and there’s no problem for the digestion if we eat only carbohydrates. However if we mix up carbs with proteins for example potatoes with chicken, digestion of the potatoes starts immediately in the mouth by the alkaline saliva while the chicken has been only ground to small pieces. When it reaches the stomach the chicken is being further processed by the acidic juices while the potatoes have already been digested.
The truth behind that is that the digestive juices needed for digestion of protein, are so acidic and are stopping the processing enzymes, started working in the mouth. If you eat pizza with cheese and ham, gastric juices will end with digesting pizza dough. Processing of carbohydrates is renewed when stomach contents pass into the next section of the gastrointestinal tract - the small intestine. It is about 6 meters long and starts from the lower abdomen - food, rich in carbohydrates, will be processed right there. The contents of the stomach are acidic semi-fluid and cause the emission of alkali bicarbonates that enable enzymes to process food rich in carbohydrates and neutralize acids from the stomach. Overall digestive function is incredibly complex and we only complicate it by endlessly mixing different foods (rich in protein and carbohydrates) sweets and fruits to facilitate fermentation. Chewing gum is a very bad habit because it causes the release of gastric juice on an empty stomach and causes hunger.
The time required to carry out digestion dividing consumption of products can be seen in the table below:
| Product | Time |
| Fruits | Half an hour to an hour |
| Bread, rice, potatoes, pasta | Three – four hours |
| Meat, fish, eggs, cheese, soy | Four – eight hours |