Healthy Eating

Yeh Baby, I'm back.  Let's try to post one entry per day!
I went to a talk yesterday by Phillip Day.  He's a writer, speaker, presenter, on health issues.
Most of what he said was a great reminder of stuff I've heard and read over the last 12 years.
I totally agree.  And he supports Dr Mercola, which is the website to read on health issues.
So today, I started my new health regime.  I've been cycling for quite a few months now.  Just got to keep it more often per week.  The tennis will be back soon, after 3 weeks of injury.

But more importantly, eating.  Or not eating.  I'm a continual grazer.  From waking moment to last thing at night.  Healthyish, but with the chocolate and sweet stuff added, and more recently the salty snacks.  So, it's back to;

• Fresh Food (It's amazing how many aisles you can cut out in a supermarket, by declaring "Fresh") and one good measure of fresh, is if the bacteria won't eat it, then why should you!!
• Water Water Water (and Green Tea (with roasted rice))
• Some fruit, and lots of veg (Greens, Tomatoes, but not rice, potatoes, and corn)
• No red meat (well a bit!), and fish, and oily fish
• Nuts, but not many.

It's not rocket science is it, just a matter of breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack, and working out what you're going to eat.  Me, I'm in favour of the idea of delaying breakfast to keep the cleansing going, and then eating fruit up until lunchtime.  I don't practise it, but I preach it!!
I've followed diet trends for years.  Never dieted myself, except once (Scarsdale Diet, very sensible) 16 years ago.  My view?  I think it's come a full circle and it's back to calorie counting.  As far as I know there's no scientific proof of any diet working, other than by energy in body = energy out of body.  Of course, it's a good idea in the long run to take your calories from good raw food, and not sugar, bad fats, cooked and preserved food.

Two things to consider.  Gorillas do very well on a vegan diet or raw food.  Chimpanzees every so often fancy a nice raw Gibbon!!  It's a disturbing sight, to watch a community of Chimpanzees hunt down a Gibbon and eat it.  But what it tells us, is we can be very healthy and survive on a vegan diet, and once in a while we have a taste for meat. Make your choice.

Tony's Tips...actually I realise I'm repeating myself;

1. Don't eat after 8-00pm,
2. Drink lots of water
3. Eat fruit, preferably organic
4. Fill yourself up with green veg (not rice or corn or potatoes)
5. Eat less
6. Reframe why you eat and what hunger is (see Allen Carr's EasyWeigh)
7. For most people, cut the Carb and Sugar, but not in an Atkins obsessive way
8. Fat people don't necessarily eat more than thin people
9. If something rots quickly, then it's good for you (Apples cut open, Avocados, Bananas), if it doesn't rot quickly then not even the bacteria like it.
10. Eating less has significantly more effect than, exercising more

Just one other thing.  By coincidence, this article in The Guardian just happened to cross my path yet again, Super Skinny Me, this is about Calorie Restriction.   This is a theory that extreme calorie restriction will prolong life.  It's proven in other animals on a severe calorie restricted diet, but it's a fine line between Anorexia and Calorie Restriction, the difference being in the lengths that CR people will go to, to ensure they eat the right nutritional mix, and besides the aim isn't to "diet" to nothing, but to live a CR life which will prolong life.
And there are some interesting side-effects!!

From mystics to anorexics, people who go for long periods without eating often report feeling more awake and energetic, even euphoric. It's nice for a while, but even the calorie-restricted can get too much of it. When April started CR, she often went long stretches between meals and eventually decided something was a little off. 'It makes you feel like you're on drugs; I got too euphoric,' she says. 'You know, thinking you're in love when you're not.' She switched to a more consistent, balanced eating schedule, and came back down to earth........
....Before CR, I was hornier than most men,' says Michael. 'But some people find that, when they go on very severe CR, their classic male libido - that sort of aaaargh-there's-a-pretty-woman-I-can't-stop-my-neck-from-moving libido - goes down.' And Michael, it turns out, is one of those people.'I've often thought that if you could explain to women that, on CR, men improve their sexual performance but decrease their skirt-chasing, women would be like, "I'm cutting your calories, honey. Half your dinner tomorrow,"'

Caveat.  I don't recommend a CR diet.  I couldn't and probably wouldn't want to live on a CR diet, but there's a lot to learn in understanding a CR diet.

Comments

[Dr Tim Holcomb]

Indigestion, ulcers, kidney problems, urinary tract infections, fatigue, dry skin, headaches, constipation, joint problems... The list could go on and on. What do all these ailments have in common? If you have any of these conditions, it very well could be dehydration, which is more common than people realize.
"Dehydration" means not taking enough water into the body. If you are not drinking at least one quart for every 50 pounds of body weight, then you are not giving your body enough of the vital "fluid of life" we call water.
Most people would ask "Why is water so important?" Normally the body is made up of more than 70 percent water. The body needs water to carry out its many functions, including formation of blood and lymph to carry nutrients and oxygen to every cell of the body and to take away wastes and carbon dioxide that can accumulate to toxic levels if not eliminated.
Consider that at least 66 percent, or two-thirds, of Americans don't drink enough water, and 10 percent don't drink any water at all. Most people take better care of their car than they do their own body. They wouldn't dare run their car's engine without water and motor oil. But a car is just a machine that wears out and is then discarded. A person's body should be more important to them than that.
Water is essential, just like breathing air. Our body can go without food for much longer than it can without water. So water is fundamental to being healthy. Taking in enough clean water should be the first thing to consider when adopting a program to improve health, before anything else, including nutrition and vitamins. Without water, no other health measure will have much benefit.
For those who refuse to take in enough water, eventually it will catch up with them when their body begins to break down and one or more of the symptoms listed above show up. Then they will want a magic pill to try and fix things, or maybe then they will start to listen to their body. Can you hear your body calling: "Water. Please, give me water."

Dr. Tim Holcomb, the "ToxDoctor", is the source for information abut living a toxin-free life by avoiding toxins in your water, air, food and household products, as well as information about detoxification of the body. Register for his free newsletter or download a free report titled "Are You Contaminated?" from his website www.thetoxdoctor.com
Blog site is www.tox-talk.blogspot.com