Diet

Diet is the foundation of Health and Well being. This can NOT be emphasized enough. When ever we are facing an illness of any kind, weather it be mild or chronic, addressing the issue Holistically is always the safest and most effective solution. This means developing a Dietary Plan to directly boost immunity, sustain any activities the person is doing from day to day, as well as addressing what ever issue the person may be facing at this time. For example, in the case of Type 2 Diabetes, one popular dietary approach to reversing this condition is by adopting a low carb Paleo diet to help regain insulin sensitivity, balance hormones and help bring the body back to complete homeostasis. In this quick article, I will express my views on how to find what diet works best for your individual biology.

     First of all, we can make this easiest by selecting a well-established Dietary System, and use it as our blueprint to build off of. For example, the diet i've found to work best for me is a high-fat version of the Paleo Diet, that i've tweaked through trial and error to create a combination of food groups that work best for me each day. I do NOT follow the same Paleo Diet found in most diet books and include different foods and techniques from other systems to help enhance my results. For example, I include a lot of Raw Garlic and Cayenne Pepper with EVERY Meal, and drink Apple Cider Vinegar 20 minutes before I eat. These are things I've added on to help suite my own individual needs that are NOT a part of any pre-existing program.

   Other people may choose to use Dr. Weils "Anti-Inflammatory Diet" as a foundation, but might notice different foods Dr Weil recommends simply do not work well with their own individual biology, and so they tweak the diet, add and remove different elements to help enhance the benefits of the Original Diet. So essentially we are simply using the diet as a starting place, and tweaking the diet to work for our own needs and lifestyle. We are using the diet as a tool, and not becoming a slave to the diet as i've noticed so many people seem to do. Food should be a way to enhance our every day health, happiness and well-being, rather than being a religion that we just MUST follow religiously as if there isnt any other way. Unless you are working with a truly qualified and licensed Nutritionist, Functional Medicine Doctor or Naturopath, you really should work on listening to your body and educate yourself on why your body craves certain foods at certain time.

     The tricky part about listening to your bodies food cravings, is knowing when to follow them and why you are craving the foods that you are craving. For example, someone with Systemic Candida Overgrowth may go on a Candida Diet Protocol, and after a few days of eating strictly Fruits, Vegetables and Meats they may start craving Cheese, Bread, Grains and other foods they've removed out of NOWHERE! Does this mean your body is in need of specific nutrients these foods provide? Or are you craving cheese because the Cassein Protein in cheese has actually been feeding the Candida and now that you've removed the cheese from your diet, Candida is actually dying off? If you eat the cheese, you may feel good in the mean time, but then notice a flare up of Candida symptoms later on in the day or the next morning. This is a prime example of how Parasites and certain Conditions in the body can trick us into craving foods that may not be good for our health. It's very important that we can learn to differentiate between craving what we need, and craving what our illness requires to keep us ill.

     Food Intolerance

One of the most common cause's of most illness these days, next to nutrient deficiencies and hormonal imbalance, is Food Intolerance. Most people assume just because they are not Allergic to a food group, that they can eat it completely fine. The truth is, a lot of people may indeed be intolerant to food groups, common ones include: Dairy, Eggs, Grains, Nuts, Seeds, Beans and Nightshades, but yet these people will not even know they are intolerant to these foods until they remove each food from their diet at the same time for 3-4 weeks. When you go this long having removed all of the common Food Group intolerance, you may notice miraculous results take place. In my own personal experience removing these food groups completely healed my Psoriasis, Acne, Anxiety, Digestive Issues, Mood Issues, Mental Fog, Bloating, Hormonal Imbalance, and at the same time significantly improved my quality of life on all levels. Now of course, each person is going to have a different set of food intolerance's, and you can begin adding in those foods again, SLOWLY, ONE BY ONE over time. And take note on any adverse reactions you notice with each food. This is how you tweak your diet to absolutely work most effectively to your body and lifestyle.





     So in conclusion, each of us has different sets of genes, different lifestyle factors and may have different conditions that ALL play a huge role in which foods and dietary systems may work best for us. Each factor of diet can make major changes in the results we experience. High Fat Low Carb diets may make some people feel extra sluggish, while other people may feel at their absolute healthiest on a High Fat Low Carb type diet, and the same goes for different forms of Veganism.

  Through Trial and Error we can each experiment around and over time find what works absolutely best for us.