Fasting Part 4 - Cracking The Code

By now you will have grasped the principles of meal spacing. It’s time to get specific about putting it all in into practice.

TWO MEALS A DAY

Put behind you that old adage that you must eat a good breakfast to keep you going through the day. This is untrue. It never has been true, despite all we’ve been taught. The word breakfast literally means the meal at which you “break-a-fast.” That is just what you will be doing on meal spacing—breaking a fast of 12 or more hours after eating dinner the night before. The timings of your two meals each day will need to take into account what your days are like.

Is it an easy thing for you to prepare your first meal at home—say between 11am and 1pm? Or do you work away from home all day? If so, does your job require you to eat in restaurants frequently? On days when you don’t, can you make your first meal before leaving for work—say, a salad complete with good quality protein which you can take to work with you, or maybe a delicious smoothie you can carry in a thermos? The rule of thumb for success with meal spacing is to allow 5 to 6 hours or more between your first and second meal of the day. Longer food-free periods are fine too. If you can schedule your second meal in the early evening—say 6 or 7pm, this is ideal. If, on the other hand, you don’t get home until later in the evening or you have been invited out for the evening, then the period between meal one and meal two is likely to be longer than 6 hours. That is fine too.

EAT STOP FAST

It is essential that, as soon as you finish a meal, you stop eating. And, just in case you have a habit of munching through a couple of biscuits or a bowl of chocolate ice cream between dinner and bedtime, now is the time to break this habit. It’s important to have ended your eating for the day at least 3 hours before you climb into bed. You need an absolute minimum of food-free 12 hours during the night before eating the first meal of the next day.

How you plan your eating and fasting periods depends on you. Your timings may change a bit from day to day depending on what is happening in your life. That’s OK. Just don’t forget that, to become lean and healthy and stay that way, and to protect yourself from early aging and degenerative conditions, your body needs extended food-free periods day after day. And the longest and most important is at night, while you sleep.

START GENTLY

Many people are afraid they will not be able to make it from one meal to the next when they are just beginning to explore what condensed eating can do for them. I recommend when you are just learning the practice of meal spacing that you feel free to eat a snack or two between meal one and meal two if you feel you need to. That being said, the sooner you come to adopt fully this food style and make it your very own, the better. I predict that it won’t take long before you will have no trouble remaining food-free between meals.

SNACK SUGGESTIONS

• Half an avocado with 2 oz (50 g) of Cheddar cheese
• A no-sugar smoothie made with Vital Whey, sweetened with English Toffee Stevia if you like
• 1 cup of sliced cucumbers with vinaigrette dressing made with extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with 1/4 cup raspberries
• 4oz (100g) plain cow’s, goat’s or sheep’s yogurt with half a grated apple sweetened with stevia and sprinkled with cinnamon.

TAKE YOUR TIME

Your body will need some time to adapt itself to this kind of eating—sometimes only a few days and other times two or three weeks. Just be patient and stick with it. Have your healthy snacks between meal one and meal two until you sense that you no longer need them. But right from the beginning, make a commitment to yourself to end completely the convenience carb foods that undermine health, provoke weight gain and predispose all of us to sluggishness and depression.

Eat as many of the good fats as you like while eliminating sugars and the carbs that turn into sugar when people eat them. What are good fats? Coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil and butter from grass-fed cows. These can strengthen your body, bring you energy you can rely on, and will never make you fat so long as you avoid the life-force draining carbohydrates which still make up the bulk of most people’s meals. These include breads, pastas, potatoes, bagels, cookies, chips, cakes and the rest. Meanwhile, eat lots of good fats If truth be told, we humans have little need for carbs. When our bodies are fed quality proteins, the good fats, green vegetables and low-sugar fruits, their bodies will quite naturally derive any glucose that they need from these foods. (For more information about this see my book Healthy And Lean For Life, which you can download for free on the homepage of curaromana.com.) By the way, if while your body is adapting to your condensed eating program, you experience light headedness, muscle cramp, fatigue, or grumpiness along the way, make sure you increase the amount of sea salt or Himalayan salt (not ordinary table salt please) that you are using on your foods.

LESLIE’S RECIPES

Let me now share with you some of my own favorite recipes that are good for any meal spacing program. I hope you enjoy them. When it comes to radiant wellbeing, nothing carries the power of fresh raw foods. Not only are they higher in essential nutrients than their cooked counterparts, the quality of the phytochemicals they contain is the best in the world. Contrary to what a lot of people think, raw fruits and vegetables are easy to digest. Each fruit or vegetable carries within it the exact enzymes necessary for us to digest it fully and efficiently.

Bircher Muesli

This recipe, which is great for either of your meals, calls for an apple. But you can use almost any fruit. Berries work very well. The recipe serves one, but can just as easily be made for twelve. This particular form of muesli is dairy-free. If you prefer to use dairy products, try plain unsweetened cow’s yoghurt, or sheep or goat’s yoghurt if you have a problem with cow’s milk.

What You Need

• 2 tablespoons grated fresh coconut (if you are buying coconut commercially, make sure it contains no sugar)
• handful of raisins, soaked overnight
• 1 apple, grated or chopped
• juice of ½ lemon
• 3 tablespoons coconut milk or sheep or goat’s yoghurt
• ¼ teaspoon powdered cinnamon or grated fresh ginger

Here’s How

Mix together the coconut and raisins and combine this mixture with berries or a grated or chopped apple, lemon juice and the coconut milk or yoghurt. Sprinkle with cinnamon or ginger. Serve immediately.

Vanilla Nutmeg Smoothie

This meal-in-an-instant is surprisingly filling and the vanilla makes it a warming drink, despite being made with ice! You can make the smoothie with or without the egg. If you do use the egg, make sure it is free-range and organic. Use only the best whey (see recommendations below). Most of what you find out there is junk. Don’t touch it.

What You Need

• 6 ice cubes
• 200ml clean water
• 1-2 scoops natural or vanilla-flavored micro-filtered whey protein (see resources)
• 1 free range, organic egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence (the real thing, no sugar, preferably organic)
• a pinch of grated nutmeg
• stevia to taste

Here’s How

Put all the ingredients into a blender, but blend for no more than 20 seconds as this can change the nature of the whey protein. Sprinkle a little extra grated nutmeg on top and serve immediately. If you like, you can add 1 tablespoon of flaxseeds to this smoothie for a fiber boost.

Warm Bacon and Spinach Salad

I used to live in Wales. This recipe is based on the great Welsh stalwart—spinach. It’s so often cold in Pembrokeshire, so I made this salad a warm one.

What You Need

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 oz (100g) naturally cured bacon, cubed
• 2 tablespoons raw walnuts, broken into small pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1lb/450g spinach leaves
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, finely grated
• Maldon sea salt or Himalayan salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Here’s How

Heat half of the oil in a heavy pan and add the bacon until golden brown and cooked through. Add the garlic and cook for a minute, then add the walnuts, vinegar and the rest of the oil. Throw in the spinach at the last minute, and toss with the other ingredients in the pan until the spinach has begun to wilt. Serve immediately with the grated parmesan on top.

Salmon Delight

This recipe came from a friend—Belinda Hodson. Salmon is such a delightful fish with a unique and delicate flavor. I love this dish because it is easy to prepare and very tasty. The marinade enhances the natural flavors of the fish and the spring onion really gives it its own special zest.

What You Need

• 2 fillets of salmon
• juice of 4 medium-sized lemons
• 2 large spring onions
• pepper and salt
• 1 dessertspoon of coconut oil
• zest of 1 lemon plus 2 lemon wedges
• parsley (for garnish)
• Maldon sea salt or Himalayan salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Here’s How

Finely chop the spring onions and place in a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, pepper and salt and blend. Place the salmon fillets into the marinade (flesh-side down) and leave for 45 minutes. Turn the fillets onto the other side and leave for a further 15 minutes. Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan. Drain the fillets and place in the pan, cooking until tender. Serve with parsley garnish.

Crudités

It may sound completely mad, but when dipping crudités, it matters what shape you cut your vegetables into. Some vegetables want to be sticks, some want to be sliced diagonally into rounds. They simply taste better. Keep your crudités in the fridge in a bowl of cold water with a squeeze of lemon. Here’s a selection of some fruits and vegetables that make good dippers

Sticks

• carrots
• turnips
• courgettes/zucchini
• green and red peppers

Slices

• cucumber
• white radish
• beetroot
• Jerusalem artichoke
• kohlrabi
• apples

Whole

• button mushrooms—stalks left on
• baby carrots
• young green beans, topped and tailed
• cauliflower florets
• spring onions

Wedges

• tomato
• chicory
• small lettuce
• endive

Curried Avocado Dip

This dip is great for crudités. I serve it together with a platter of fresh phyto-nutrient filled vegetables such as endive, bulb fennel, crunchy lettuce, celery, slices of red, green, and yellow capsicum and anything else I happen to have around.

What You Need

• 2 large ripe avocados, peeled and cubed
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 tbsp of lemon juice
• 1 tsp of vegetarian broth powder
• 1/8 tsp of Cajun seasoning
• Celtic or Maldon sea salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tsp of mild to medium curry powder
• 1 tbsp of lemon zest

Here’s How

Add chunks of avocado plus garlic, lemon juice, broth powder and other seasoning to the food processor— everything except the lemon zest. Blend until creamy and add lemon zest and serve. This recipe makes about 1 cup, which will keep up to 3 days in the fridge.

Sesame Miso Dipping Sauce

What You Need

• 125 ml of rice wine vinegar
• Granulated stevia to taste
• 1 tbsp miso
• 2 tbsp of sesame seeds, ground in a coffee grinder or food processor
• 1 garlic clove, crushed

Here’s How

Combine all the ingredients. Can be served immediately.

Cool Cucumber Dip

What You Need

• 1 small cucumber
• ¾ cup of yoghurt (cow’s, sheep’s or goat’s)
• squeeze of lemon or dash of vinegar
• 1 tbsp minced onion
• Spoonable stevia to taste
• 1 clove garlic (optional)
• fresh mint
• Celtic or Maldon sea salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper

Here’s How

Peel and grate the cucumber, then drain off any excess extra juice (you can use it as a drink). Mix with the yoghurt, lemon juice or vinegar, onion, stevia and garlic. Finely chop a few mint leaves and add. Season and serve in a dish with sprigs of fresh mint.

FOLLOWING YOUR NATURE

It may surprise you to learn that the eating pattern which you are aiming to create for yourself is what the human body has been genetically programmed to thrive on for hundreds of thousands of years. It can enable you to eat well and plenty of food without suffering any sense of deprivation or hunger once you get accustomed to it. This is the way our hunter gathering ancestors, whose genes we have inherited, lived. They ate and then fasted, depending on when food was available and when it was not.

When you get into eating quality protein foods at mealtime along with plenty of good fats like those in the above recipes, luscious green vegetables and low-sugar fruits day by day, you are likely to find yourself going from strength to strength. Your body gets firmer and leaner. Your health improves as vitality steadily grows. Your mind becomes clearer. You look younger and better than you may have done for years and you feel happier with yourself and your life. Try it and see.

USEFUL PRODUCTS:

BEST LIQUID STEVIA

Wisdom Natural, SweetLeaf, Liquid Stevia, English Toffee Sweet Leaf liquid stevia with all natural flavors is convenient and easy to use. As a supplement, add this nutritious stevia to water, tea, coffee, milk, sparkling water, protein shakes, plain yogurt or anything else you can imagine. It comes in many different flavors including lemon but English Toffee flavor is the best by far.

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BEST MICROFILTERED WHEY

Well Wisdom, Vital Whey, Natural Vanilla, 21 oz (600 g) Vital Whey is a delicious, 100% natural nutritional protein supplement. Vital Whey is a proprietary, non-denatured, native whey protein that is produced to maintain the full range of all the fragile immune-modulating and regenerative components naturally present in fresh raw milk. The milk for this product is derived from cows that are grass-fed and graze year-round on natural pastures. Our whey does not contain genetically engineered materials. It is hormone-treatment-free, pesticide-free, chemical-free and undergoes minimal processing. Grass-Fed Year-Round Hormone-Treatment-Free The Finest Biologically-Active Non-Denatured Whey Protein Dietary Supplement Comes in Natural. Vanilla and Cocoa

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BEST GRANULATED STEVIA

Spoonable Stevia by Stevita uses only stevia extract with at least 95% pure glycosides (extremely sweet tasting ingredients of the Stevia herb leaves), and a little erythritol, a crystal granulated naturally produced filler found in fruits, vegetables and grains. It is best for baking and sprinkling

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