Dietary Advice

At our clinic we often advise patients on dietary changes that would help with their return to health. We start with general recommendations such as low to no sugar in the diet, high amounts of vegetables and fruits, and moderate amounts of meat products. It is obvious that some people thrive on different diets than other people. There is frequently disagreement on whether to eat a vegetarian diet or a moderate meat diet. We do not usually make these distinctions. What we do suggest is that the majority of each person's diet comes from vegetables, fruits, and legumes, and nuts.

Each person can experiment with fish, fowl, eggs, and red meat as they like. It is important that the meat that we eat come from quality sources that are hormone free, antibiotic free, and preservative free. This means that often people who choose to eat meat would do well to purchase their meat products at the health food store or the health food section of their local grocery.

It is important that each patient strive to have 25% to 50% of their diet from raw foods. This is easily done by eating a large salad at most meals, snacking on raw fruits, and snacking on raw nuts. Raw foods provide us with intact enzymes that aid in our digestive processes.

Another recommendation for patients is to eat plenty of leafy vegetables, especially ones that are dark green. This means that spinach, lettuce, mustard greens, turnip greens, raddish including the leaves, beet tops, endive and others need to be in the diet daily. Dark, green, leafy vegetables have so many vitamins and minerals in them that they increase our vitality very strongly. In fact, a rule of thumb is to eat any vegetable or fruit that is strongly colored- orange carrots, dark green spinach, purple blueberries, red cherries, dark red tomatoes, brown mushrooms, purple cabbage, yellow peppers, etc. Anything that is strongly colored has lots of vitamins and minerals in it. By shooting for things that have lots of color you avoid eating things like white flour, potato chips, milk, cheese, sugar, and salt.

We do not recommend that patients eat high amounts of grains as these often irritate patients' digestive tracts. If you must eat grains make sure that they are whole grain varieties. I recommend grains in moderation. Make bread be low on your list if you want to be healthy. Vegetables, fruits, and nuts are full of healthy oils and water. Grains are usually dry. If you have a choice between white bread and a paper plate, I jokingly suggest you eat the paper plate. White bread has no food value and is extremely constipating.

We do not recommend that patients consume much cow milk products. Our patients are tested for milk allergies and it is commonly found. I recommend that no child ever drinks milk. I have seen too many children's health turn around, asthma disappear, ear infections go away, tosilitis clear up, etc. when children stop drinking cow's milk. Children do much better with goats milk which is available at certain groceries in the refrigerated dairy section. Cheese is to be avoided also in my opinion for most people. I recommend that no one drink cow's milk or use products with cow's milk in it. Cow cheese is tolerated by more people than milk. Milk is extremely mucous producing, allergy promoting, and full of hormones designed to make a little calf into a fat cow. We do not want ourselves or our children having hormones designed to fatten cows!

We recommend that people avoid sugar as much as possible. Water and tea taste fine with a little lime or lemon added for taste. Fruit juice is usually too concentrated in my opinion for most people and should be diluted with an equal amount of water to juice. I recommend that people try to increase their water intake to between one and two gallons of water a day depending on your size. Many people who drink these amounts of water are much more youthful looking than ordinary people. Drink water from a liter bottle and it will be surprising how quickly the liter becomes empty, perhaps two hours. Now just repeat that 3 more times and you drank approximately one gallon. Very large people would do well to try and drink twice that amount.

I recommend that people get water filters for their homes. Water from the municipal water supply usually has fluoride, chlorine, or other chemicals in it. These chemicals can compete with iodine for thyroid function. I advise most people to avoid chemically treated water if possible and this simply means getting a filter for your sinks and tubs. Do it if you value your health.

If you will notice these guidelines have not been labeled as "going on a diet." I still splurge on special occasions and have sugary foods although rarely. I enjoy hamburgers. What matters is that we make a concerted effort to make the majority of our food coming into our mouths healthy and nutritious. If you think about it you can grill a lean hamburger patty, whip up a filling and nutritious salad, and pour a glass of sun tea from the patio in less time than it would take to get into the car, drive to McDonalds, and bring the food back to eat it. The food you make at home is 5 times better for you, cheaper, and tastier.

Don't think that I recommend dieting. I recommend making changes in what you regularly eat. Eat 100% healthy 6 days a week and choose one day to eat what ever you want. Or eat 90% healthy every day with 10% on less than perfect foods. This type of eating will cause you to feel better without feeling deprived. For health to improve, dietary changes need to be lifelong and tasty. Don't sacrifice taste. Just eat smarter!

I highly recommend the book "Diets Don't Work" by Bob Schwartz. I also recommend the book "Eat Right For Your Blood Type" by Dr. Peter D'Adamo. Realize that there are no absolute answers for the perfect "diet." Eat so many vegetables and fruits that you don't have much room for ice cream or chips. Come on, be honest... aren't peaches, cherries, apples, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, grapes, plums, pears, pineapple, grilled fish, celery, tomatoes, avocados, olives, cucumbers, onion, bell peppers, almonds, walnuts, fresh pecans, mushrooms, watermelon, potatoes, barbequed chicken, green chile, and all those other things your mother made you eat tasty? I sure love these things. When you eat them you feel good and don't feel bloated.

Call our office. Our patients get checked out head to toe. Sometimes we put patients on temporary diets but usually only to facilitate eliminating fungal and yeast infections. These diets last 3 weeks. We recommend dietary changes that bring results and people can live with. Please feel free to call with questions.