Posts Tagged ‘alternative diets’

A raw diet saves lives. This is a diet, which is high in nutrition, and low in calories. It usually is a raw vegetarian diet, heavy on fruits and vegetables. What a raw diet may be doing is supplying the body with micronutrients, while getting rid of accumulated toxins.

The Raw Diet

The raw diet, especially if there is juicing and blending involved makes digestion easy, and leaves energy for the body to work on healing. The diet takes the  burden off the digestion system and provides vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that are in short supply.

The raw food movement is a quiet revolution, which is changing the way we think about food. The emphasis is on high quality nutrition. Raw food provides a way to eat that is more in tune with nature.  The diet is trending upward., because it is the living definition of living food.

This is a stand alone diet, it doesn’t depend on any store bought supplements. The only additions are some supper foods, which the diet naturally contains plenty of. The question is why aren’t more people choosing a more raw diet?

Anti-Aging

Millions of people are looking for anti-aging products and procedures, this diet would be the ultimate way to stay young at heart and reverse human aging. When I say young at heart we are talking about the best way to keep your cardiovascular system in peak working order. What is critically important is that you feed the cells so they are powered to provide your body with cellular energy. The mitochandria are the cellular energy generators, which supple your body with all the energy for a long healthy life.

The combination of a raw foods with nutrient dense sources of cooked items may be the way to implement a mostly raw diet for most people. Physical performance depends on a host of bio-active nutrients. It also depends on what you are capable of absorbing from the food. For centuries we had a diet so different from today’s eating. We are starving our body by feeding it calorie dense, nutritionally sparse foods.

Benefits

The truth is people are unwittingly starving their bodies and have no idea of the extent of the problem. At one time we provided nutrition from raw and cooked foods. What has happened is in the the last 70 plus years we lost control of our food supply. Now our cooked food can’t deliver, and even our raw conventional and even organic produce are growing in poor nutrient depleted soil. What this says in today’s world: we are more vulnerable to the effects of vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Synthetic vitamins aren’t the answer, only biological active ingredients are bioavailable. The synthesis of these nutrients will depend on all the components of the plant being intact. There aren’t any full spectrum vitamins and minerals except from the source.

In order to maintain mental acuity and physical vigor you have see the fuel you are providing your body with is supporting this. I hope this article gives everyone food for thought.

Remember common sense should prevail. A healthy diet with grass fed beef and some cooked food is still the road to health.

The real help for MS may be outside the medical model. Medical advances to deal with the condition hasn’t dramatically improved. The medical way is to focus is on high potency drugs. However, just like any of the other so called chronic conditions get ready for one drug after another. So the treatments of choice will be pharmaceuticals. For Multiple Scleroses this means profits for the pharmaceutical industry, and a suffering patient.

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic and often disabling condition, which attacks the central nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. Symptoms may be mild or severe, and come or go. The current thinking is that MS is a chronic condition and the only thing a patient can do is find relief.

According to most sources multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases are when the body’s immune systems which normally attacks substances foreign to the body such as bacteria mistakenly attacks normal tissue. In MS, the immune system is attacking components of the central nervous system such as the brain and spinal cord along with the optic nerves

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a medical mystery with a few theories on how it develops. It isn’t always easy to diagnose since symptoms can be very mild and transient.  To the medical community this condition like many others is in need of pharmaceuticals.

Medical Solutions

Treating MS follows the trend in managing chronic conditions by using a wide variety of medications to reduce the frequency and severity of symptoms. When one medication stops working they look for another drug.

The strategy is to modify the course of the disease (slow it down) treat exacerbations (flare-ups) manage symptoms, improve function. These treatments are symptom control and this is what drives the advances in modern medicine.

The drugs such as Avonex®, Betaseron®, Copaxone®, Extavia®, Gilenya®, Rebif®, and Novatron® come with the hopes that they can reduce disease activity and progression.

The list of possible side effects: depression, anemia, liver abnormalities, allergic reaction, flu like symptoms, anxiety, palpitations, and even chest pains. Some are short lived side effects, and some aren’t common ones. The real problem is the longer you are on them and the more combinations you take the bigger the danger. The documented effectiveness of these drugs isn’t very strong.

Real Answers!

Studies shows that living closer to the equator reduces MS risk. This fits in with research that suggests vitamin D from sun exposure may be protective against MS.  Vitamin deficiencies  play a part in this condition. Just about every chronic condition, which develops comes from inside. The promise of science hasn’t been realized unless you think high dosage medicine is the answer to all health problems.

The one treatment in the medical and pharmaceutical models not used is diet. This has the most implications to both relieve and reverse most of the symptoms. There has been a lack of monitoring diet by the medical community, not just because of ignorance and arrogance, but because this condition can abate and relapse on its own. Most people have to see for themselves what the active ingredients in plant foods can do to. A healthy way of eating is the prototype for any treatment options.

Diet Control

Multiple sclerosis responds to both diet and an exercise programs. The relief from diet and different exercise programs has been chronicled. The appropriate testing comes from the patients who have not just slowed the disease, but reversed much of the condition. In 1948 a Dr. Roy Swank created the first known MS diet. This diet is high in vegetables, fruits and nuts while eliminating saturated fats. To understand this you need a bigger view of this condition. Just about all condition are an inside out occurrence. Specific needs aren’t being met for your body to function properly.

There are thousands of patients that went into remission, and had lesions that decreased in size. The type of exercise is usually light: incorporating yoga and stretching exercises. This helps muscles flexibility and will lessen the chance of becoming stiff or developing atrophy.

There are other diets that include gluten and casein free ones. Flavonoids seem to offer some help and so does food allergy testing.  The notion that dug safety is a safe bet is fading. The future outlook is going to show that one stop answers that come from pharmaceuticals will raise more concerns than answer any questions.

Which is the best diet for you? There are so many diets that are being touted, slogging through them will be labor intense. Food ideas seem to have religious undertones. The believers in each food system are sometimes overzealous.

Pitch

Food is not food anymore it is a philosophy. A critical review of each way of eating shows they all get results. They seem to be effective and explain their philosophy with clarity. They spreads by word of mouth. People adhering to the eating plan tout the benefits.

The pitch can be strident, and in your face. These are generic plans that at best work because of the adulterated foods that you have given up.

Types

They range from the fruitarian diet, vegetarian diet, low carbohydrate diet, macrobiotic, and high protein.

The reality is they all work to some degree, because of what you are giving up.  

Fruitarian

This is not a diet that everyone should blindly embrace. On this diet you have to be alert to see the down side. This is a high sugar diet, even thought it is in a natural form. It supplys vitamins and minerals, but it is high in fructose. For many people it has some critical nutritional elements missing.

What happens many people get caught up in trust and theater; they do not employ deep and critical thinking when embarking on this way of eating. It without a doubt can set some people up for problems in the long haul.

Yes, many people seem to do well at the beginning, what happens is that health issues appear later that don’t always attribute to the diet.

Vegetarian Diet

This can be a good diet for some, and others can’t figure out how to do a really good version. So vegetarian diets can become either a high end or low end junk food diet. In the vegetarian diet there is a lot of latitude, and pre-packaged food, which is high in sugar and sodium, can be a good part of the food supply.

Some of the best sources of iron, vitamins, and omega 3 fats come from grass fed animals. Everyone’s needs are different so it does matter when you leave out a food group.

Low Carb Diet

This has a lot going for it, but again you need to roll up your sleeves, and be prepared to figure out how to do it. Most of the today’s diets are too high in carbohydrates.

This is what matters where are your carbohydrates coming from. Vegetables are a good source, some whole grain works. Mankind started on a low carbohydrate diet and that is what our system is designed for. This diet includes some fruits. It is not neccesarily a high fat diet. Many people use low fat protein sources.

All the diets that work are a variation of cutting out the empty calories, and that means fabricated foods.

Macrobiotics

This is an unusual diet for most of the public, even thought it can be a healthy diet.

This diet is a high whole grain diet, with plenty of vegetables, including sea vegetables. What it has going for it is there are none of the standard pre-packaged foods that have become a staple in the American diet. People do eat animal protein in small amounts.

The draw back is that many people get so drawn in to the principal that they can overload on carbohydrates. This diet needs to be individualized to create a diet that works on a long term basis.

Individualized

Diets must suit lifestyles, genetic predisposition, and current health status.