Dietary Discussion

by Andrew Sordyl

The word ‘Diet’ comes from the Greek word DIAITA meaning, to direct one's own life. The way we lead our daily lives has a great effect upon our health and well being, and we can all do something to maintain or help restore our health by how and what we eat. This may seem simple, but our digestive system is the main way in which we take in nourishment to sustain ourselves and is probably the part of our bodies we most abuse.

I don’t believe it is necessary to follow a harsh regime of abstinence or to brave laborious and tedious regimes to prepare meals in order to remain healthy. What is important however is to be aware of what, how much, and when you are eating.

It has become quite faddish to eat exotic foods from far off places. One just has to walk around the fresh produce section of any supermarket to see this. In moderation these are fine, but the volume of sales suggests that the consumption of such foods is both excessive and sustained.

At the other end of the eating habit scale, processed food is having its effect on our health by virtue of the amount of insidious sugar, salt, chemical colouring and preservatives we are consuming. The idea of ‘processed’ food can be extended to the cocktail of chemicals used in growing crops and feeding animals. Even if you are vegetarian you are subject to the effects of hormonal cocktails through dairy produce. Ah! You say but I get my eggs, butter, and milk from organic sources. Yes but where did the feed come from, and how was it grown? Even if it’s a completely self-contained organic farm, the pollution from the rivers and rainwater will still find its way into your body.

I have prepared what I consider to be the ten commandments for good eating. Obviously if you suffer from an illness which is being treated with some form of medicine, be it holistic or conventional, your practitioner should advise you more specifically on foods which can be included or excluded.  Some practitioners rely on diet alone, which may not be enough on its own to deal with the illness which very often has developed insidiously and become one with the organism it feeds on - you. So! To the meat - or vegetables, of my general guide to an indulgent yet healthy way of eating: -

Eat when you are hungry, until comfortably sufficient ‑ your stomach can hold about two cupped handfuls of food comfortably, and is ready to work when you are hungry.

Don't eat when you are not hungry and don't overeat - this disrupts the balance within your organ systems, with consequent overall weakness. Practice moderation in moderation.

Don't eat too fast - this creates excess heat and affects the nerves of the Stomach and organs of the digestive system

Don't consume cold food and drink directly from the fridge - this creates a stagnation of nutrients in the body and may lead to digestive problems, lack of energy, headaches, and so on.

Be mindful of the amount of liquid you consume. Social drinking of alcohol, tea, coffee, soft drinks, presents our body systems not only with unrequired liquid but also an excess of undesirable stimulants. However if you are thirsty or engaged in physical work or sport your body needs far more liquid than normal. So drink when you need to.

Three or four regular meals are ideal. Traditionally breakfast should be the main meal, in fact the ancient Chinese used to say: -

Eat, like a King at breakfast, like a prince at lunch and like a pauper the rest of the day.

You are more relaxed and less likely to be stressed in the morning, which will help your digestion and give you a good start to the day ahead at a time when your Stomach is most energised (between 7AM ‑ 9AM). However it seems our normal routine is the exact opposite of this. Too often, breakfast consists of toast and coffee taken hurriedly, lunch is slotted into the business day on a best-fit basis, and by the time we come to eat the evening meal our body system is tired and wants to rest and prepare itself for the regeneration period of sleep, and what do we do? We give it the best most exotic food we can muster, in quantities far in excess of the capacity of the receiving organ, the stomach. The important point here is that if you must eat a large meal in the evening accompanied by excessive volumes of liquid, then walk it off before retiring for the night.

Try to eat foods that are in season in your latitude. Avoid tropical foods in the winter months. They are 'cold' in nature, and even though we need a balance, in the colder weather we need energetically warming foods such as root vegetables. In summer, salads made from 'cooler' foods such as large leafy or watery fruit and vegetables, should be balanced by cooked meals.

Contrary to modern popular belief, uncooked food is not better for you. Your body has to work much harder to digest raw food and whether you have digestive problems or not, your body will react more favourably to lightly boiled vegetables. I am not saying don’t eat salads, I am saying don’t live off salads, because that will eventually lead to problems (not necessarily digestive). If you cook in oil then use olive oil that has been cold pressed.

Eat as varied a diet as possible, with a maximum of four or five different foods in one meal, and try to vary the flavours, energy and organic action (see further reading below). If you dislike meat make sure you get your protein from other sources such as nuts, beans and pulses. If you eat a lot of meat (especially red meat which promotes aggression) and you are not an Olympic athlete, then cut down to no more than one or two meat dishes per week.

The primary food in your diet should consist of cooked whole grains such as; brown rice, whole wheat, barley, oats, rye, millet, corn, and buckwheat. These represent the building aspect of nutrition and should constitute 40 to 60% (and up to 100% for short periods of time in the cold months) of your daily intake.

The secondary class of food in a balanced diet is vegetables. They supply important nutrients and represent the eliminative aspect of nutrition and should constitute 30 to 40% of our food.

Meat, nuts, dairy and fruit can be viewed as the third class of food, which is more of a supplement to grains beans and vegetables and makes up no more than 10% of daily intake. If you are vegetarian it is important that beans, pulses and dairy are included in this category. Dried beans are easily available these days and can include aduki, mung, lentils, peas, black, etc. (Add coriander, cumin or ginger when cooking to counter flatulence)

Chew your food well before swallowing. Your mouth is designed to pre-digest food. The more you prepare it in you mouth, the easier your stomach will digest it and the more nourishment you will obtain from it.

I suppose one could say that there are two basic balanced diets. Firstly we need to select foods according to the above guidelines. Secondly an individuals diet should be balanced according to their needs and physical constitution. Although the oriental and occidental schools would agree with that statement, the way each would go about it and the resultant list of foods produced is unfortunately very different. Personally I feel that while the vitamin and mineral content of food is undoubtedly of great importance especially in cases of severe deficiency, one cannot be guided by that alone. The oriental view of the energetic values of food must be taken into account when considering our daily nourishment.

As a post script the following list is what I consider NO-No’s (or Serious moderation, because 'a little bit of what you fancy does you good'): - Salt, Sugar, Coffee, Tea, Alcohol, Tobacco.

However I stress that it is an error to regard any food as inherently “good” or “bad”, rather it is subject to each individuals needs and requirements, for remember the proverb “one man’s meat (or vegetable) is another man’s poison”.

Further Reading:-

Healing with Whole Foods        Paul Pitchford (North Atlantic Books)

Chinese System of Food Cures    Henry C. Lu (Sterling Publishing)

Prince Wen Hui’s Cook           Bob Flaws & Honora Wolfe (Paradigm)

Nutritional Medicine               Davies & Stewart (Pan Books)

Food for Free                        Richard Mabey (Harper Collins)

Recipes for Self-Healing            Daverick Leggatt (Meridian Press)