Diet and Diets

Most of us were raised on the Standard American Diet (SAD) filled with chemically-grown and manufactured foods. Junk food. Fast food. Getting rid of unnecessary chemicals means eating only organically grown produce, organically, grass-fed meats with no additives for preservation or taste enhancing.

So many people have said to me, "I don't see the difference in organic versus chemically-grown food other than the price." Well, these critics aren't chemically sensitive...yet! There are some non-organic foods that have made me violently ill with stomach or intestinal cramps, headaches/migraines, rashes, nausea, dizziness. Even if you don't react to non-organic food, you still need to reduce the load in your body. Going organic is a step in the right direction.

Organic, whole food is pricy, no doubt, but as you make other changes to your lifestyle you'll find it'll all balances out. For instance, the amount of money I used to spend on cosmetics, facial cleansers and make-up removers, hair products, beauty parlor visits, soaps, lotions, detergents and toxic household cleaners would feed a small, third world country. I'd much rather buy quality food that is an investment in my health and in my future.

In addition to an organic diet, there are many other diets to consider:

Sugar-free Sugar isn't good for anyone. Besides weight gain, it also screws with your blood sugar levels. Because sugar has no nutrients and we need nutrients in order to digest, it sucks the nutrients out of your body in order to be digested. If you have a cold or illness and eat sugar, you'll have a really hard time getting over it.

Dairy-free Dairy products like milk, cheese, cream, ice cream, cottage cheese, and cream cheese  create inflammation and are difficult to digest for most. Non-organic dairy products have all kinds of chemical additives from artificial nutrients to preservatives, not to mention the antibiotics and growth hormones given to the animals so they may produce more.

Gluten-free  I've read most people are gluten sensitive in some way. Our bodies just aren't good at digesting grains. In addition, leaky gut is caused by undigested foods, usually grains, and bacteria permeating the intestinal tract and it is believed by many those toxic compounds are then leaked into our bloodstream causing a host of health problems including chemical sensitivity. And gluten is in nearly everything from cosmetics to tuna to chili powder! It's really sneaky.

GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) Diet This diet eliminates grains, dairy and sugars in order to heal leaky gut.

Paleo (caveman) diet Similar to gluten-free and GAPS in eliminating grains, sugars and dairy and going back to the natural diet of our ancestors. No processed foods, no chemically-grown foods, no genetically-modified foods.

Raw food diet This diet involves eating only raw food as high temperatures kill the nutrients and enzymes making food less beneficial. Raw food is easier to digest and more nutritious.  Any diet should consist of at least 75% raw foods for optimum health.

Juicing  Fresh, organic fruit and vegetable juices are like blood transfusions - liquid nutrients. And they taste so good! Beet and apple juice are natural liver detoxers. Fresh lemonade is heavenly. My favorite is carrot juice. There is some warning about the sugar content of fruit juice especially if you have any blood sugar issues, and juicing isn't really "natural" as it removes all the good pulp fiber from the plant. But it's fabulous!

Rotation diets For anyone who is finding themselves sensitive to any foods, be sure to rotate the foods you can tolerate so you don't develop a sensitivity. If you eat too much of one thing, your body starts seeing it as an "invader" triggering an immune response. Try to eat foods no more than once every four days so you have a variety.

There are also low-histamine diets, low-oxalate diets, low-salicylate diets, anti-Candida diets, anti-inflammatory diets, etc., etc. You name it, it's out there, but if you start mixing them your list of what you can eat gets very small!

Currently I'm doing a mix of the GAPS and Paleo diets with a Hashimoto twist. (It sounds like an alcoholic beverage!) No sugar, grains, dairy, tomatoes, mushrooms, potatoes, soy, iodine,  high-glycemic fruits along with all kinds of other weird rules. What that leaves are some meats, some veggies, some fruits, some nuts with coconut milk, olive and coconut oils. I'm being creative with meals, but I'm damn hungry all the time. I'm not really hungry,  just unsatisfied. I really miss the freedom of snacking.

There are also a number of cleansing diets designed to help the detoxification process:

Master Cleanse, or lemonade diet This lemonade is absolutely yummy made with fresh, organic lemon juice, Grade B organic maple syrup and a dash of cayenne pepper. Drink only this non-stop for a day or a month, alternating with herbal teas. The recipe and directions are online with many people gushing about healing miracles. It was yummy, but I got really tired of just lemonade. I wasn't hungry, just bored. You must follow the directions especially  coming off of it to avoid gastro-intestinal problems.

Liver and gall bladder cleanses It involves drinking lots of apple juice (a natural liver detoxer), grapefruit or lemon juice with 1/2 cup of olive oil. I know that sounds gross. It is. Hold your nose and drink it down. What's worse is drinking Epsom salts. Eeeww.  I did this once with great results. This is also a natural remedy for gall stones and kidney stones and is much cheaper and safer than surgery.  AND you won't be missing any body parts in the end!  Get proper directions online.

Fasting  Total water fasts for one day to two months.  This sounds crazy, I know, but fasting has been practiced for centuries. Socrates use to require it of his students as it cleans the body and opens the brain. One theory is all animals stop eating when they are sick to rest their bodies in order to heal. This makes sense to me. I think only the human species feeds itself to death. I tried it following Loren Lockman's protocol which he uses at his Tanglewood fasting clinic. Lockman claims with periodic fasting and a raw food diet, he cured himself of fibromyalgia.  It is said you stop craving food and stop being hungry after a few days. At day four I thought I was starving! I went right into a raw food diet which also says after seven days you stop being hungry. At twenty one days I still felt like I was starving. BUT I have to say, in the end, I was less reactive to chemicals and felt better. An option to water fasts are juice fasts, but again, the sugar content in fresh juices are a concern for many.

These are mere ideas to consider. With any special diets or dietary changes, it would be advisable to get specific directions online so you don't hurt yourself or seek the advice of a doctor or dietician. Not that I'm saying doctors or dieticians would even know about half these diets or approve of them. My personal rule is: follow your instincts and what makes your body feel good, unless it tells you to eat chocolate everyday then assume your body has been hijacked. Addictions will make you crave what they want, but in most cases your body will tell you what it wants.

What kind of diets have helped reduce your chemical overload?

What were your most difficult sacrifices?
What do you miss the most!?