Inflammation - The Root of All Evils

Scientific American reports "Inflammation has gained recognition as an underlying contributor to virtually every chronic disease." (see link to full article HERE) This inflammation is generally caused when our body pH is acidic. When our bodies are inflamed (acidic), they can't function as intended and are less able to fight off infections and free radicals. While we can't control all inflammation, much of it can be significantly reduced by changing our diets.


The typical Western diet is HIGHLY inflammatory and acidic. Not surprisingly, we are also the most diseased country among developed countries and spend the more than any other nation on healthcare. Sugar, processed foods, dairy, caffeine, animal proteins, medications and other items contribute greatly to our inflamed and acidic conditions. Limiting our ingestion of these foods and adding more vegetables, including sea vegetables (seaweeds) is the first step in  reducing this inflammation. You can actually cure yourself of many ailments, such as headaches, urinary tract infections, allergies, fatigue and heart disease just by eating more alkaline foods and reducing acidic foods.


George Ohsawa was a Japanese doctor who created the macrobiotic movement and coined the terms "yin and yang" as describing acidic and alkaline foods. In 1971, Herman Aihara wrote "Acid & Alkaline," a book dedicated to introducing Ohsawa's Eastern concepts to Western thought in medicine. The book, which is considered the bible for those studying macrobiotics, states, "It is imperative to keep enough alkaline forming elements in our body fluids to maintain the alkalinity level of pH 7.4 [the natural level of human blood]. Furthermore, one of the important causes of cancer - and other degenerative diseases - is the cumulative effect of the acidic condition of body fluid. Therefore if you study acid and alkaline balance as taught in this book, you can prevent almost all sickness, including cancer, heart disease, heart attack, and AIDS."


Pretty powerful statement. No wonder the Japanese culture boasts the longest lifespans with the least amount of disease. Although this acid/alkaline theory seems complicated to us, it is common knowledge in Japan. Their meals are not balanced with a meat, starch and vegetable as they are here. Instead, they are balanced based on the acid and alkaline, yin and yang features of the food. 


What is an example of alkaline forming food? Vegetables, seaweeds, lentils, dried beans and citrus fruits are mostly alkaline. Don't be scared of seaweeds. My next blog will introduce some dried seaweeds that can be easily added to your dishes, many of which you will barely taste.


So, how do you get started? 

1. Reduce the highly acidic foods and add some alkaline foods. Start by cutting back on sugar (both refined and artificial), coffees and black teas, dairy and animal proteins (meats from any animal), and floured products (baked goods, crackers, breads). 
2. Try instituting a Meatless Monday dinner and replace a sugary drink or snack with something more healthful, like water with splash of real juice or carrot sticks and fresh hummus. Possibly the best thing you can put into your body, especially if you have eaten a highly sugared or animal protein meal, is miso soup. I drink it in the mornings in place of coffee, but you can also drink it before/with a meal, as a snack and even before/after x-rays or radiation treatment. It has been shown to protect the body from radiation. The Japanese drink miso soup up to three times a day.
3. Check out my recipes section to see how to make this SIMPLE miso soup and some delicious meatless meals and snacks your family will love.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

What's in a name? More than you'd think. There are occasions when you need to buy something in a package. When you do, do you look at the ingredients list or do you just buy it because you've always bought it? It can be overwhelming trying to decipher what all of those ingredients are. The food manufacturers have gotten pretty clever at masking food ingredients. 


Good ingredients lists will be short (5 or fewer ingredients) and all things you could buy individually in a grocery store. No chemicals, no preservatives, no food coloring. These types of packaged foods are ideal, especially if they are organic. 


Bad ingredients lists will have 10-20 ingredients and many of them are things you can't pronounce or couldn't find in nature. Hydrolyzed soy protein, sodium caseinate, sodium nitrate, citric acid, monosodium glutamate...the list goes on and on. AVOID.


Ugly ingredients are those you may have heard aren't good for you and have actually been linked to diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and even ADD. High fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, sucralose (Splenda), food dyes, and many others. AVOID.


If you are unsure of an ingredient, Google it. Look on the back of your packaged food you already have at your house. Start Googling those strange sounding ingredients and find out what they really are. For instance, blue #1 in Gatorade. On the Gatorade website, they say that they use artificial coloring because "The colors of Gatorade not only look good but also help in flavor perception and enable you to tell different flavors apart." Do we really need to be fooled with color? Why don't they tell us that the blue, red and yellow dyes used are derived from a petroleum product?


Keep in mind our objective - to nourish, protect and heal our bodies with whole foods found in nature, the way God intended. If you find lots of ingredients in your kitchen that you couldn't grow in a garden or raise on a farm, it probably needs to go. At the very least, limit how much and how often you ingest it. But above all, know what you're putting in your body.


Check out my recipes link (right side bar) to find some nutritious, WHOLE ingredients recipes I think you'll love. If you try any of them, make a comment on the blog to let me know what you thought. And as always, feel free to ask questions!


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How to Start A Whole-foods Diet

There's enough research out there now that we can be certain that eating fewer processed foods can only benefit your health. Processed foods, basically most foods in a box, bag or can, are usually full of salt, preservatives, chemicals, food coloring, sugars and ingredients not found in nature. Why do they have these ingredients? Because it helps make the food that's been sitting for years in a box, bag or can to taste and look better. Did you know that a Twinkie has a shelf-life of 21 years? Click on the link to see what fast food looks like after two years. 


If processed food and its ingredients aren't found in nature, our bodies have a hard time recognizing them and properly digesting them (or getting any usable nutrients from them). When food is hard to digest, the body becomes stressed. When the body is stressed, it becomes inflamed (and acidic). Many researchers believe Inflammation (of some sort) is the root of most chronic diseases, including allergies, heart disease, Alzheimer's, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, MS, gout and many others. Decrease inflammation and acidity, decrease your risk for disease. Pretty simple math. Plus, processed foods make you cranky.


Natural foods, namely veggies, grains, beans, seeds & nuts and fruits cause little to no inflammation (unless you have an intolerance/allergy) and are much less acidic than processed foods and animal protein (meats, dairy and eggs). I'm not telling you to stop eating animal protein, although I eat very little, if any, of it. But, you can drastically improve your health simply by cutting out the processed foods. How?


1) Take inventory. Check your kitchen staples and see what you and your family eat on a regular basis. How much of it comes from a box, bag or can? How much of it is from the produce aisle? This will give you a good indication of how far you have to go.


2) Start small. Don't try to change everything overnight or you (and your family) will only get frustrated. Start with one meal a week. Talk to your family about why you are doing this and see if you can get them to help prepare the fresh meal. Instead of defrosting those frozen chicken nuggets or opening a bag of Goldfish, think of something else you can serve that isn't from a box, bag or can. Instead of drinking that Diet Coke, try water with fresh lemons and limes. (See Recipes link to the right).


3) Try 1 new, healthy recipe a week (see Recipe link to the right). Think of what you and your family like most and modify it to be healthier. ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING ON THE PLATE THAT YOU KNOW YOUR KIDS WILL LIKE. Tell them they have to have at least 3 bites of the new food before they can eat what they like that's on their plate. A new veggie? Google it and see the nutrients so you can educate yourself and your family. 


Remember - the goal is to be conscious of what you're putting in your body and how your body reacts to that food. Take note of how your body feels after eating/drinking each food.

What is a whole-foods diet, anyway?

Despite what you may think, a whole-foods diet isn't really a "diet" and it doesn't need to come from Whole Foods Market. A whole foods diet is basically transitioning to eating more foods from their original source than foods that are processed. Our Western diet is frightfully filled with processed foods that have been stripped apart, "fortified" to make them "whole" again, and then processed more to make them taste good. They are full of man-made chemicals, petroleum by-products and preservatives used in morgues. By the time you buy them off the store shelf, you are eating only a shadow of the main ingredients. This food is a science experiment, not food from the earth. All of this processing makes it hard for your body to digest it, since it has been "messed with" and is now unrecognizable to the digestive system. Why does this matter? Your digestive system not only has to work much harder to digest it, but it also gleans much less nutrition from it, too.

I am convinced that all of this processing has created a generation of kids struggling with food allergies, auto-immune diseases and obesity. Our kids are addicted to sugar and eat such highly-processed foods, it's amazing their poor bodies can eke out any usable nutrition whatsoever. How do we change that? We change ourselves. We go back to eating what God intended and realize that it's not a sacrafice - it's a cure.

I know genetics plays a role, but since my family has been eating a whole-foods diet, we haven't seen a doctor, taken medicine, or suffered from allergies in at least 3 years. My elementary-aged son hasn't missed a day of school in 3 full years. My daughter had the H1N1 flu virus a few years ago and recovered in less than 3 days while classmates with the same diagnoses were out of school for over a week. There's something to this whole foods thing.

This kind of diet doesn't mean you have to give up everything you love. It means you find a more natural form of that favorite food. It does mean you'll be in the kitchen a bit more, but I think you'll find that serving yourself and your family homemade food that you know their bodies can utilize, feels good. YOU ARE WORTH IT, and so is your family.

My 1st recommendation is to start reading. Don't take my word for it - READ. I suggest The China Study, Forks Over Knives and Food Inc to get started. Understand where your food comes from, what its made of and how your body processes it. These books will help you see that you DO have a choice. Diseases, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and many others CAN BE LARGELY PREVENTED just by changing your diet.

Next up? How to Get Started on a Whole-foods Diet