food

Valid discoveries in medicine depend on the ability of researchers to make accurate observations in relation to the subject they are studying. As the famous French scientific historian Claude Bernard pointed out more than 150 years ago, “To have an idea about a natural phenomenon, we must first of all, observe it. All human knowledge is limited to working back from observed effects to their cause.” Scientists with preconceived notions assume that they already know the cause and this makes it impossible for them to make valid observations.  They are only able to see what they expect to see. FALSE BELIEFS ARE DANGEROUS This is what has happened to obesity researchers in the past 70 years. They have not diligently searched for and observed what makes us get fat and what to do about it. Instead, virtually all of the research projects that have been carried out since World War II have taken as a given three false notions—all three of which have only contributed to making us fatter and sicker in the Western world: That obesity, heart disease and other degenerative conditions are the result of a high fat diet. That we need to eat lots of carbohydrates to keep up our energy and stay healthy. That weight loss is a simple matter of calories in/calories out—in the words of the Unites States Surgeon General, “overweight and obesity are the result of excess calorie consumption and/or inadequate physical activity.”   These beliefs have continued to prevent us, and the so-called experts, from learning the truth. Happily, this situation is beginning to change, albeit slowly. Such false beliefs still reign supreme amongst most doctors, research scientists, and the media. These mistaken notions (and many more which accompany them) continue to rule scientists, Big Pharma, multinational food corporations and—thanks to television, magazines and newspapers—the great majority of human beings. LIFE-CHANGING FACTS If one takes the time to plough through the voluminous research and declarations about obesity, its cause and its cure, a completely different set of conclusions demand to be drawn: Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating or lack of exercise. Obesity is not caused by gluttony or lack of willpower. This disorder is the result of an as yet unidentified disequilibrium in the hormonal regulation of fat metabolism. This is the major issue that must be addressed if we are to find a cure for chronic overweight. Taking in excess calories is not the cause of gaining weight, nor does expending a lot of energy on exercise prevent it. As a result of their effect on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, sugars and starches are undeniably the dietary culprits in the development of diabetes, coronary heart disease and obesity, as well as the major contributors to other diseases of Western civilization including cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Cereal, grain, and sugar-based carbohydrates distort hormonal regulation of homeostasis, fostering obesity as a result of their effect on insulin balance and their ability to bring about insulin resistance syndrome—‘syndrome X’. Because they stimulate insulin secretion, carbohydrates increase hunger and diminish the energy the body expends on metabolism and during exercise. With the exception of chemically distorted oils and fats full of trans-fatty acids, the traditional oils such as olive oil, coconut oil, and butter in no way contribute to obesity. Quite the contrary: They can not only prevent it, but enable the body to shed fat and keep it away permanently by supplying the body with ongoing energy for work, athletics, and play. DAILY OVERLOAD The most signification change to human diets in two million years began with the agricultural revolution, where man went from a carbohydrate-poor to a carbohydrate-rich diet as cereals and quickly digestible starches entered our foods. The more these carbohydrates became refined in the past three hundred years, the more problems they have caused; not only in terms of burgeoning waistlines worldwide, but in the development of chronic degenerative diseases of civilization. Similarly, the overwhelming increase in sugars and fructose—such as those found in so many convenience foods and in the form of high fructose corn syrup—has to be a major contributor on both counts as well. In the eighteenth century, we ate between 10 and 20 pounds of sugar per person per year. Today, we consume between 150 pounds and 200 pounds of sugar a year per capita. How revolting does this sound? Especially when there are so many delicious, nutritious proteins, vegetables and healthy fats out there that we could—and should—be eating, for better health, looks, and the ability to unlock our full potential. The standard dietary advice still goes something like this: “We need to eat a minimum of 120 to 130 grams of carbohydrates a day to remain healthy.” This figure, which most nutritionists still propound as though it were a decree from God, was arrived at since researchers supposed this to be the quantity of glucose that the central nervous system and brain makes use of on a carbohydrate-rich diet. KETONES—NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK Such information is out of date and inaccurate. Even the 2002 Institute of Medicine report Dietary Reference Intakes, which still blindly adheres to the outdated daily recommendation of 120 to 130g of carbohydrates a day, then goes on to acknowledge that the brain can function perfectly well without them. In truth, it often functions far better when carbs and sugars are reduced to a mere 25 to 50g a day. The central nervous system and the brain work great when fueled by ketones. Ketones are substances produced by the liver from fats—those released from one’s own fat stores and from fats and oils that people eat. A moderate, controlled level of ketones in the bloodstream allows the body to function superbly well on minute quantities of carbohydrate foods. This is called a ‘state of nutritional ketosis’. Energy increases, clarity of thought improves, and cravings for foods vanish as one’s body becomes keto-adapted. The transformation can be life-changing. Yet almost nobody in the medical, scientific or media world is bothering to pay much attention to all this. NUTRITIONAL KETOSIS By definition, nutritional ketosis is a benign metabolic state that provides the human body with the flexibility enabling us to handle major shifts in available foods. For many years, a ketogenic program has been considered of great value in the treatment of epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, and even successful weight loss. I myself wrote a book about it in 2002 called X FACTOR DIET... For Lasting Weight Loss and Vital Health. Now, suddenly, ketogenic adaptation is being discovered and celebrated by top athletes and fitness experts who find that when the body becomes keto-adapted and is fed on high-fat (60%+), moderate protein (20%+) and very low carbs (primarily taken from green vegetables), the body gets all the energy it needs—and more—from fats. And, unlike relying on carbohydrates or sugars, after a long run or heavy training, the energy in a ketone-adapted body just keeps coming. Of course, the fats one chooses have to be the best—primarily butter from grass-fed beef, organic coconut oil, and extra virgin olive oil. My own experiments on myself and others who are not particularly fitness fanatics is that, after becoming keto-adapted, the body persistently tends to shed unwanted fat deposits. One needs less sleep, skin texture improves, even many chronic aches and pains diminish or disappear completely. It’s early days yet, but the promises of keto-adaptation which I first discovered in the late nineties and then wrote my best-selling book about are beginning to validate themselves. Not only is this fascinating metabolic adaptation changing people’s lives for the better. The latest research appearing from doctors and scientists studying ketone adaptation could dispel all the false beliefs and insane dogma about the causes of obesity and degenerative diseases, replacing them with truths that can transform lives for the better on every level. This is my hope. For more information read: The X-Factor Diet: For Lasting Weight Loss and Vital Health Syndrome X has spawned obesity on a scale never seen before. Also known as insulin resistance syndrome, it predisposes us to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and early ageing. Cutting-edge research has recently shown that the major culprit is the high-carb/low-fat diet we have been urged to follow. This regime simply does not suit the way our bodies have evolved. Result: it makes many of us fat. Leslie Kenton's scientifically backed The X Factor Diet provides two fat-loss programmes, together with delicious recipes and easy meal plans to restore normal weight naturally, increase energy levels and make you fitter for life. Join her on a journey towards a leaner, healthier and more beautiful body. Order The X-Factor Diet The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance by Jeff S Volek and Stephen D Phinney A Revolutionary Program to Extend Your Physical and Mental Performance Envelope. Our recent book 'The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living' was written for health care professionals, championing the benefits of carbohydrate restriction to manage insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and type-2 diabetes. Order Low Carbohydrate Performance The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living By Jeff S Volek and Stephen D Phinney Carbohydrate restricted diets are commonly practiced but seldom taught. As a result, doctors, dietitians, nutritionists, and nurses may have strong opinions about low carbohydrate dieting, but in many if not most cases, these views are not grounded in science. Order Low Carbohydrate Living

Our Western Diet is based on foods of convenience—the fast food items we buy at the local corner shop or supermarket. These products are gross distortions of the REAL foods which human beings have eaten throughout history...foods to which our bodies remain genetically adapted. Our ancestors did not have bread, sugar, junk fats and all the other nutritionally depleted pre-packaged, pre-cooked stuff that we do. They ate fresh wholesome foods. Palaeolithic man’s diet was high in wholesome fats, moderate in proteins, and rich in fiber, thanks to whatever vegetables and simple fruits they could gather. CHEAP AND NASTY The modern convenience foods on which we now feed depleted of natural fiber and filled with chemicals. They are manufactured from grain-based carbs, and altered milk products then riddled sugar and dangerous trans-fatty acids—oils which have been separated out from the foods from which they are taken, then chemically altered by solvents and heat processing. FOODS CAUSE ADDICTION Apart from the destructive power of GMO foods, which are not only destroying human health but the health of the planet, another major change has taken place: Today we also swallow a kaleidoscope of colorants, flavorings, additives and ‘enhancers’, not to mention pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, which our ancestors could never have imagined in their wildest dreams. We slurp down chemical pollutants with each sip of our diet cola, and every bite of our pre-cooked meals. Quite simply, this is the fast food diet that 95% of the Western world now lives on. And, next time you upbraid yourself for what you perceive to be your lack of willpower as you reach for yet another biscuit and feel guilty about it, let the guilt go. It does not belong to you. The denatured, degraded, food we eat bears the lion's share of blame, not only for the plague of obesity worldwide, but for food addictions and cravings that lead to illness and weight gain, the development of potentially fatal degenerative diseases, from heart disease and cancer to metabolic syndrome; Alzheimer’s disease; diabetes, and dozens more. DEGENERATION BEGINS It was Weston Price, early on in the century, who first brought the scientific community's attention to the devastating effects the rise of processed foods and the destructive ways in which they damage human health. Price, a dentist, traveled the world recording the changes in the shape of the jaw and teeth which take place slowly but inevitably as each culture discards its traditional dietary practices, based on real food, in favor of our more ‘civilized’ Western fare. Price's many studies—each of which lasted between 20 and 40 years—carefully plotted the onset of degenerative diseases. It is not surprising that, after living on a diet of simple whole plant foods rich in natural fiber and a health-giving synergy of nutrients and micro-nutrients throughout evolution, the human body continues to this day find the foods we eat now anathema to health. Our genes have been attuned to naturally grown, unprocessed foods for more than a million years. Our metabolic biochemistry as human beings is designed for it. Sir Robert McCarrison—brilliant British doctor also charted the relationship between food and health. More recently, two more British doctors, Dennis Burkitt and Hugh Trowell, carried out their own extensive studies, taking Price and McCarrison’s work a step further. They carefully documented the exact sequence of events which takes place when a people's diet changes from simple, primitive, real food to packaged fast foodstuffs. Stage One: The primitive, unprocessed diet of hunter-gatherers, complete with plenty of healthy fats, good quality proteins, plus vegetable and fruit-based carbohydrate is eaten. Degenerative diseases do not exist. Stage Two: Western diet is introduced. Obesity and diabetes become common among privileged groups able to afford foods of commerce, and degenerative diseases begin to appear. Stage Three: A culture's diet becomes “moderately Westernized”. Obesity becomes more widespread, as does constipation, haemorrhoids, varicose veins and appendicitis. Stage Four: Westernized diet is now widespread. Overweight and obesity are common in all social groups. So is heart disease, high blood pressure, diverticular disease, hiatus hernia, cancer and other Western diseases. FRAGMENTED “FOODS” Like our soils, the industrially manufactured foods we eat today—from biscuits and pasta to pre-cooked convenience meals—have quite literally been taken to pieces. High-tech food production works something like this: To create a great variety of palatable foods from raw materials, you have to reduce the foodstuffs—grains and seeds, vegetables and legumes—to simple, malleable ‘nuts and bolts’ that lend themselves to whatever manipulations you want to perform on them. Take soya beans for instance. They were once considered an excellent source of complete protein as valuable as meat or eggs—more valuable in many ways, since they are so cheap. Nowadays more than 95% of soybeans grown worldwide are genetically modified. Food manufacturers still take whole soya beans, in which 30% of each bean is protein, and process them physically and chemically to extract this protein and make it ready to accept dyes and flavorings. hen they alter its texture through more processing until eventually it becomes ersatz meat. This end product—from which soy-based foods from tofu to soya milk are made—is a long way from the natural soya bean. In the course of such manipulations the little soya bean, which, pre-GMO devastation and high processing, once offered asynergy of nutrients, complex carbohydrates, essential fatty acids and fiber. By now however it has now been turned into a highly concentrated artificial material. During the operation, vitamins and minerals are destroyed. The soya bean's proteins and natural fatty acids have been denatured and chemically altered into new forms, many of which are not usable by the body. The soya has also lost most of its fiber too—a vital part of any food's health-promoting wholeness, and something absolutely essential for protection from degenerative diseases and obesity. To this artificial “food”, manufacturers then add a lot of phoney colors and flavors. Canadian expert in food science, Ross Hume Hall, puts it rather well when he says: "The product contains the same number of calories as the original soya protein, but it now consists of a set of naked molecules completely divorced from any natural context." The same is true of the way in which cereals and grains are processed. NUTRITIONAL DESTRUCTION From milk to meat to garden peas—whatever food is involved—processing destroys nutrients. According to official government handbooks, 50-70% of vitamin B6 is lost when meats are processed. 50-90% of folic acid—a vitamin of particular importance to the functioning of nerves and the actions of hormones, especially in the female body—is shed when grains are milled, while more than 80% of the mineral magnesium disappears in the same process. The multi-national food industry covers the packaging of its products with endless ‘nutritional’ information, which would have you believe that any goodness lost in processing can be made up for by ‘enriching’. Enriching is just another chemical whereby a few cheap vitamins and minerals in synthetic form are pumped back into the now fragmented food. It is categorically impossible to restore the health-giving power of wholeness to any food which has been fragmented in this way. BIG COVER-UP Similar nutrient losses happen during other phases of food handling—artificial ripening, transport and storage. Store asparagus for a week and it loses 90% of its vitamin C. Keep grapes for the same time, and they shed 30% of their B vitamins. Freeze meats and you can lose as much as 50% of two important B vitamins— riboflavin and thiamine. These are just a few examples of nutrient losses which occur every day. They are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the ways in which modern food handling and manufacturing processes have created highly concentrated, calorie-dense foods filled with masses of sugar (more about this in future entries) which are dangerously destructive of health, and promote both weight gain and rapid degeneration of body and mind. REAL FOOD CREATES REAL HEALTH OK, so where do you go from here? It is easy to change your food-buying habits once you clear your cupboards of the manufactured rubbish we all collect. You’ll find the healthiest, freshest, and most natural foods for lasting health at the outside edges of your local supermarket. These include crunchy fresh vegetables and fruit, fresh game and meats, seafoods and eggs. Skirt the edges, steer clear of the middle, and you’ve got the secret to becoming a successful modern-day hunter-gatherer. Remember this: Natural wholesome foods are perishable. They have to be replaced often, unlike the ready-in-a-minute, pre-made stuff that you find in the inner aisles. You will be shopping “at the edge” in another way too: You’ll be looking for foods as close as possible to those that our ancestors ate—with a wide variety of crunchy, living vegetables, especially bright-colored ones. Foods with a long shelf life don’t belong in your body. Processed high-carb foods often have a very long shelf life. This makes them great sales material for food manufacturers and retailers, since they can sit on the shelves for a long time, and are cheap to produce with high profit margins. Virtually all convenience foods and fast foods have been whipped up out of processed grains and cereals, masses of sugar in all forms, junk fats, chemical additives. Avoid them for your sake, as well as the sake of your family. You’ll be able to turn your lives around in short order. Find our for yourself. Try it.

For ten years I was a vegetarian—a way of eating for which I have the highest respect. My vegetarian diet, at times even vegan, helped my body heal damage that had been done to it when I was a kid. I had been raised on junk food before junk food as we know it today even existed: I was never breastfed. I survived on pasteurized cow’s milk mixed with corn syrup, then as soon as I could wield a spoon, Rice Krispies smothered in sugar. Then I feasted on greasy eggs and white toast in truck driver cafés, usually at 5am. For my father was a jazz musician. I traveled with him from one gig to the next from the time I was 4 or 5 years old, not attending school, often covering 200 or 300 miles a day to get to the next job. As a result I was never well. So, in my early twenties, while living in Paris with my three children, I went looking for health help. And I found it. FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH I researched the work of gifted British doctor Sir Robert McCarrison, who initiated the first epidemiological investigations into the relationship between diet and the development of disease. I investigated the theories and practices of Max Bircher-Benner MD, creator of the world famous Bircher-Benner clinic in Zürich. There, for almost a century, people suffering from chronic degenerative conditions went to have their lives transformed by changing the way they lived and ate. Bircher-Benner’s work had changed the eating habits of hundreds of thousands by the end of the 19th century, by teaching people to eliminate white bread and meat, and to eat a balanced diet of raw vegetables, fruits and nuts. I was fortunate enough several times to visit the clinic which, for 40 years after his death in 1939, was run by his niece—the charismatic Dagmar Liechti-von Brasch MD. She and I became good friends. At the clinic I learned the principles of good vegetarian eating from Bircher-Benner’s son, Ralph, whose job it was to look after the publications that flowed forth from the clinic and were printed in many languages throughout the world. I learned about the powers of natural healing, then put them into practice, changing my own life and improving the lives of my children as they grew up. DIGGING DEEP Meanwhile, I read many books and papers, listened to dozens of lectures from physicians and scientists, and interviewed scores of doctors personally who were involved in the new exciting field of lifestyle medicine. I was impressed by their work and by the work of many others including Dean Ornish MD, director of the Preventative Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California. Ornish and his colleagues went so far as to measure the effect of comprehensive lifestyle changes on patients with coronary artery disease. These patients were introduced to a meat, fish and poultry-free, ultra-low-fat vegetarian diet of fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes, coupled with stress management sessions and regular exercise. By the end of a year, over 80% of the patients had experienced regression of their arterial fatty deposits without the use of drugs. During the same year, the control groups of patients, who had no lifestyle intervention, experienced a substantial progression of their illness. Change a person's way of eating and alter their lifestyle, and you can not only largely prevent degenerative conditions, of which overweight is a major one: you can even reverse degeneration after it has occurred. Certainly, a well-designed vegetarian way of eating can play a major role in the process. HERE’S THE RUB Given the surprising benefits that many people—including myself—have experienced from a properly constituted vegetarian way of eating coupled with lifestyle change, why, then, do so many devout vegetarians eventually become ill, obese and disillusioned with this way of eating? The answer to this is likely to surprise you, since so little has been written about it. I have written a lot about Paleolithic man’s way of eating, our genetic inheritance from him and how important it is that, in choosing the foods we eat, we respect this genetic inheritance for the sake of our health, our mental strength and emotional wellbeing. As you know, until the agricultural revolution took place, Paleolithic man was primarily a hunter. He killed his food—be it animal, insect or fish—then gathered whatever plants, nuts, fruits and vegetables were available to him. He ate mostly fat and protein. He would go for long periods between kills, living off his own fat stores. His body handled the processing of the foods he ate primarily in a ketogenic manner—relying on fats, not glucose, to supply him with energy. ENTER THE GATHERERS At the same time, and after the agricultural revolution began, a large number of people became primarily gatherers. The gatherers got most of their nourishment from what grew out of the ground in the form of fruits and vegetables, herbs, nuts and seeds, most of which they ate fresh and raw. Unlike the hunters, who derived their energy from fats, gatherers relied on glucose from their foods to supply their energy. The early gatherers were vegans. Only when man began to domesticate animals and birds so that eggs and milk were available did some of these vegans become vegetarians. To this day, both vegan and vegetarian diets are practiced in certain cultures throughout the world. Some contemporary vegans and vegetarians stay healthy. But it is common knowledge that more and more these days develop deficiency diseases, experience rapid aging and end up with serious chronic diseases. Why? DANGEROUS CONVENIENCE Because the foods most vegetarians and vegans eat now are a far cry from those that our original gatherers collected and consumed. Like more than 90% of today’s omnivores, the majority of vegetarians and vegans have now come to live on denatured, processed convenience foods. Such foods are just as dangerous to vegans and vegetarians as they are to the rest of humanity. Yet the majority of vegetarians and vegans remain completely ignorant of this. They still think that, by not eating animal products, they are protected from all the chronic illnesses that now plague humanity. What’s worse, for a few of these people, vegetarianism has become a religion—a source of self-righteous congratulation which they ignorantly assume sets them above the rest of us human beings. Here’s the secret and bottom line: If you want to thrive as a vegan or vegetarian, you will need to fashion your way of eating as close as humanly possible to the way our gatherer ancestors did. This means saying no to convenience foods. It also means becoming savvy about how to get enough of the nutrients that are low in vegetarian and vegan diets, and making sure you supplement your diet with them. FOLLOW THE GATHERERS When it comes to spring-cleaning the body, following a vegan or vegetarian diet for a period of time can be a great help. This is how Bircher-Benner and the other great physicians who worked with high-raw diets were able to work their healing wonders. BUT... If you decide to follow a vegan or vegetarian way of eating long-term, you must eat as your gatherer ancestors did. I see serious health problems in some vegetarians and vegans I mentor on our Cura Romana programs—yeast overgrowth, cancers, hypothyroidism, diabetes, leaky gut syndrome, anemia, food cravings, and chronic fatigue to mention only a few. Some people cannot manage a vegetarian diet because of enzyme deficiencies. Others have food sensitivities to grains and cereals or milk products, but do not know it because, like almost 99% of non-vegetarians, they are eating masses of convenience foods which none of our bodies can handle. HOW TO BE A HEALTHY VEGETARIAN Stop eating manufactured foods and processed foods, be they cookies, cakes, crackers, soft drinks, packaged salad dressings and other ready-in-a-minute packaged foods. Replace sugar in all its forms with good quality, pure stevia for sweetening. Avoid all chemical sweeteners. Stay away from anything containing high-fructose corn syrup. Read labels carefully. Never drink sodas or diet sodas. Forsake all “white foods” such as white flour, all products made from it, and white rice. Eat only free range and organic eggs. Buy or grow organic vegetables and fruits. Eat your fruits and vegetables in their fresh raw state as often as possible. Use no food additives such as MSG, hydrolyzed vegetable protein or aspartame. They are full of neurotoxins. Avoid all processed vegetable oils made from corn, soy, canola, cottonseed or safflower. Choose only natural oils such as coconut, extra virgin olive oil and butter from grass fed cows. Never drink fluoridated water. Avoid rancid nuts and grains which you find in granolas and elsewhere, as they block mineral absorption and impair good digestion. Never eat sprayed, waxed, irradiated fruits and vegetables or GMO foods—particularly GMO or non-organic soy. Take only food-state supplements, never chemically-made vitamins. Make sure you supplement any vegan or vegetarian way of eating with extra zinc, vitamin B3, iodine, omega-3 oils and vitamin B12. TO LEARN MORE: Crane, Milton G., Sample, Clyde J., Regression of Diabetic Neuropathy with Total Vegetarian Diet, Monograph, Weimar Institute, Weimar, California, USA. Crane, Milton G., Shavlik, Gerald., ‘Newstart’ Lifestyle Program. A Survey of the Results. Monograph, Weimar Institute, Weimar, California, USA. Fraser, G.E. Vegetarian Diets: What do we know of their effects on common chronic diseases? Am. J. Clin. Nur, 2009: 89: 1607S-12S. Lustig, Robert, Fat Chance. The Bitter Truth About Sugar. Fourth Estate/Harper Collins, London, 2013. Ornish, Dean, Reversing Heart Disease, Random House/Century, London, 1991. `Unusual Heart Therapy Wins Coverage From Large Insurer' New York Times, July 28th, 1993.

All artificial sweeteners increase your insulin resistance, impair your memory and disrupt your neurological functioning. Do not use them! It is hard to believe the extent to which they have taken over the world. The artificial sweetener market worldwide is measured in many billions, and keeps growing. Here is a breakdown: aspartame is responsible for 27.9% of the market, sucralose, claims another 27.9%, while cyclamate holds a 13.1% share, acesulfame-K gets 5.2% and neotame 1.4%. I continue to be flummoxed by it all. How can billions of people be persuaded into putting this kind of junk into their bodies, adding these products to their coffee and their foods, as well as swallowing sodas and other drinks that are riddled with them? If you value your body, your mind and your health, please STOP USING THEM! THE STUDIES One study, carried out over 14 years, showed that eating and drinking sugar-sweetened and artificially-sweetened drinks makes you prone to a higher risk of type II diabetes. Another, lasting over seven years, found that drinking artificially-sweetened drinks is associated with an almost 50% greater change in BMI. Researchers reported that a likely reason for this is that artificial sweeteners increase food intake, as well as a greater desire for sweetness, so you eat more food. Obese subjects given the artificial sweetener sucralose showed increased insulin levels and insulin resistance. In both human and animal studies, the artificial sweeteners sucralose, saccharine, and aspartame also exerted a substantial negative effect on gut bacteria which increases glucose intolerance. In relation to aspartame, Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public interest (CSPI) Michael F Jacobson states, "Aspartame has been found to cause cancer—leukaemia, lymphoma and other tumors—in laboratory animals. It shouldn't be in the food supply.” PROTECT YOUR BRAIN Dana Small, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, has been doing excellent work examining the effects that artificial sweeteners exert on behavior and brain in humans and animals. She discovered that appetite comes from the hippocampus as well as the hypothalamus. When mice were fed on the artificial sweetener acesulfame-K, they developed impaired memory as a result of neurological dysfunctions in the hippocampus. A learned association takes place between the flavor of a food you eat and the ability of a food to alter your blood glucose. Your body is smart. You cannot feed it on rubbish like artificial sweeteners. When you do, it hunts for real food to satisfy its needs. By now, we have a huge volume of evidence showing that artificial sweeteners foster weight gain. PLEASE HEAR THIS Artificial sweeteners of any kind can be much worse for you than sugar. There is a lot of evidence to back this up. Even natural sweeteners such as honey and agave, which most people look upon as “healthy choices”, are not great. Agave is highly processed, even when it says “organic” on the label. It has a higher fructose content than any other commercial sweetener. In truth, it is little more than an over-hyped, laboratory generated, highly-condensed fruit syrup without nutritional value. In small quantities and in its raw form, honey has much to offer, provided it is real, pure, raw honey. But most honey these days is of very poor quality and adulterated. Even real raw honey, which is almost impossible to come by, consists of 53% fructose—which you don’t want to take in very much of. What about the sugar alcohols? These are easy to spot as their names end in “ol” like xylitol, malitol, glycerol, lacitiol, mannitol, sorbitol, glucitol. They are less sweet than sugar, but they are by no means calorie-free. You see, these sugar alcohols are not absorbed completely in your body. Eating them can create diarrhoea as well as abdominal gas. Some of them used regularly can even spike blood sugar as much as a baked potato or dinner roll can. Xylitol is probably the best if you are going to use any of them, but it must be used only in small quantities and not regularly. And you must read labels carefully. Personally, I choose to leave all of them alone. SAFE ALTERNATIVES Stevia is far and away the best natural sweetener in the world. But make sure you buy a good quality whole plant stevia (see my recommendations below.) Stay away from Truvia, Purevia and one or two other so-called stevia products which have extracted the sweetest component of the stevia plant—Rebaudioside A—out of the plant, grossly distorting the integrity of the plant as a whole. It’s the synergistic effect of all the natural ingredients in the plant that produce its overall health-giving qualities, which include "built-in protection" against potentially damaging effects. Working with people on our Cura programs, I find that artificial sweeteners disagree with many. Stay away from them. For my money, the two best stevias, which you can purchase from iHerb.com as well as from Amazon.co.uk, are these: Natural Wisdom Sweet Leaf Liquid Stevia Natural Wisdom Sweet Leaf Liquid Stevia, which comes in a dropper bottle with all natural flavors and is convenient and easy to use. Add it to coffee, milk, sparkling water, protein shakes, plain yogurt or anything else you can imagine. It comes in many delicious flavors but English Toffee is the best by far. Take a look at it here: Order Natural Wisdom Sweet Leaf Liquid Stevia from iherb Spoonable Stevia by Stevita Spoonable Stevia by Stevita, which 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. This brand of stevia is best for baking and sprinkling on yogurt and anything else you are making. Take a look at it here: Order Spoonable Stevia by Stevita from iherb I use stevia a lot and love it. You will too. It should be your number one choice for your own wellbeing and that of your family. Go for it and leave the junk behind.

Find your way to eating delicious and wholesome foods that will help you avoid putting back into your system all that junk you have just got rid of. It’s easy and delicious – lots of fresh, wholesome fruits and vegetables, prepared simply so you keep all of their wonderful tastes and textures. Go and see what your greengrocer has on offer and let your imagination run riot. Here are some ideas of how to put together delicious meals that will keep your body working well and your energy levels high. Try them out, then make up your own. There’s a whole world of possibilities out there. bountiful breakfasts A traditional cooked breakfast of fried eggs, bacon, toast with butter and jam and tea or coffee is definitely bad news. In the first place, greasy food puts a great strain on your liver, which is working hardest to detoxify your body between midnight and midday, and its high fat content will leave you tired and mentally dull. Far better to choose an energizing breakfast such as Live Muesli, or an Energy Shake, or just fresh fruit. live muesli This recipe is similar to the original muesli developed by the famous Swiss physician, Max Bircher-Benner. Unlike packaged muesli, which usually contains too much sugar and is rather heavy and hard to digest, the bulk of this muesli is made up of fresh fruit. It will leave you feeling light and lively. 1-2 heaped tablespoons steel-cut oats, rye or buckwheat a handful of raisins or sultanas 1 apple or firm pear, grated or diced 1 teaspoon fresh orange or lemon juice 1 small banana, finely chopped 2 tablespoons yogurt (optional) 1 teaspoon honey or a little natural stevia to taste (optional) 1 tablespoon chopped nuts or sunflower seeds ½ teaspoon powdered cinnamon or ginger Soak the grains overnight in a little water or fruit juice to help break the starch down, along with the raisins or sultanas. In the morning, combine the soaked grains and raisins with the apple or pear and banana, add the orange or lemon juice to prevent the fruit from browning and to aid digestion. Top with the yogurt, then drizzle with honey or a little natural stevia if you like. Sprinkle with chopped nuts or sunflower seeds and spices. You can prepare countless variations of Live Muesli by using different types of fresh fruit, such as strawberries, peaches, pitted cherries or pineapple, depending on what’s in season. When your choice of fresh fruit is limited, use soaked dried fruit such as apricots, dates, more sultanas, figs or pears. energy shake This recipe is delightful and quick – ideal if you have little time to spare in the mornings. 8 fl oz (1 cup) plain yogurt a handful of strawberries or raspberries 1 teaspoon of honey or a little natural stevia to taste 1 tablespoon coconut (optional) a squeeze of lemon juice Combine all the ingredients thoroughly in a blender or food processor and drink. Depending on the type of yogurt used, you may need to thin the shake with a little fruit juice. As with Live Muesli, you can vary the Energy Shake by using different kinds of fruit, such as bananas, mango or fresh pineapple. sexy salads Most people think of salads as a rather limp affair involving a few bits of lettuce and some cucumber. What I mean by a salad is a taste sensation of fresh, raw vegetables presented beautifully and dressed to kill. The permutations are endless. Go for the freshest vegetables in season and let your creative (and digestive) juices run. Here’s one of my recipes to get you started: Line a large dish with lettuce or spinach leaves. Then chop or grate a selection of fresh vegetables and fruit such as: cabbage (red or white), carrots, radish, tomatoes, courgettes, cauliflower, broccoli, green peppers, apples, beetroot, cucumber, oranges, grapes. Add a handful of sprouted seeds or beans such as alfalfa, mung, chickpeas or lentils. Dress with a little extra-virgin olive oil, a squeeze of fresh orange or lemon juice, a little curry powder, ginger or a dash or Worcester Sauce, and a little Swiss Vegetable Bouillon Powder to taste. Top the lot with a handful of sunflower seeds or chopped nuts. To your basic salad you can add a side-dish of grated boiled egg, a little chicken or fish, or some brown rice or a baked potato. Make plenty of salad and you will find you won’t go hungry. sweet treats sorbets You are supposed to make sorbets with a sorbetiere but I have survived for years without one. Juice 6 oranges, and combine the juice in a food processor with 2 juicy seedless oranges which have been peeled and quartered. Add enough honey or natural stevia to sweeten and add some nutmeg or ginger if desired. I sometimes add a grated peach for texture. Pour the mixture into a plastic lunch-box type container or empty ice-cream tub, and freeze. Remove from the freezer and leave to thaw slightly for ten minutes. Blend the mixture again, spoon into dishes or empty halved orange shells and serve immediately. raspberry fruit freeze pie This is a great basic pie base that you can fill with any fruits and berries that are in season. Here is my favorite: pie base: 1 cup pitted dried dates ½ cup almonds ¼ cup oat flakes 1 teaspoon honey a little water Grind the dates and almonds as finely as possible in a food processor. Add the oats, honey and a little water and blend again. You need to add the water slowly to get the right consistency. You want the mixture to bind but not be sticky, so it rolls into a ball in the food processor. Flatten the mixture into a pie dish with your fingers or the back of a wooden spoon. As a variation you can add a tablespoon or two of coconut. pie filling: 2 bananas 2 cups raspberries sherry honey or natural stevia to sweeten Peel the bananas and chop them into pieces about an inch thick. Freeze in a polythene bag with the raspberries until firm. Remove from the freezer and blend the fruits together with a dash of sherry and a little honey to sweeten if you like. Pour into the pie crust and serve immediately, garnished with a few banana slices or raspberries. carob and apple cake 1 cup sunflower seeds (or a 2:1 mixture of sunflower and sesame seeds) 1 cup carob powder ½ cup dried coconut ½ cup dried pitted dates 3 apples ½ teaspoon vanilla essence 1 teaspoon allspice apple slices or strawberries to garnish Grind the seeds very finely. Add the carob powder, coconut and dates. Quarter and core the apples, then blend them in the food processor with the dry ingredients. Add the vanilla essence and allspice. Spoon the mixture into a flat dish and leave to chill for a couple of hours in the fridge. Decorate with apple and/or strawberry slices before serving. carob fudge Once chilled, these wonderful fudge balls have the texture of ordinary fudge, and their carob flavor makes them ideal chocolate substitutes. 1 cup sesame seeds ½ cup dried coconut ½ cup carob powder 1 teaspoon honey ½ teaspoon vanilla essence Grind the seeds very finely in the food processor. Add the other ingredients and process again. Form the mixture into little balls and chill.

Did you realize that as of this moment, half of the seafood in the world no longer comes from wild oceans and rivers but from fish farm? This is not only salmon but hundreds of other fish, which are now farmed. And the number of fish farms continue to rise exponentially. So what? So lots of things! Fish farming corporations hide the inconvenient truths about how their fish are raised, what they are fed, and the dangers that aquaculture brings not only to wild fish who share the same seas as their contaminated brothers but also to we humans who unknowingly buy and consume farmed fish. Let's start here: Farmed salmon and all other farmed fish often spread diseases they carry to the populations of our wild fish. How? Farmed fish continue to break through barriers erected to contain them threatening the wild fish gene pool and spreading bio-pollution that is irreversible. Norway has the greatest concentration of fish farms in the world. The Norwegian Health Department recently issued a warning to their population that they should not eat too much farmed salmon. Dr. Anne-Lise Birch Monsen from the University of Bergen is outspoken about the high level of contaminants present in farm-raised fish including salmon. Contaminants that build up in farmed fish then spread environmental pollution into the waters surrounding the fish farms causing damage to wild fish in the waters nearby. Six years ago Russia banned Norwegian farmed salmon from sale because it contains large amounts of cadmium and lead. These heavy metals and other poisonous substances come from the feed farmed fish are given. They flood into the sea contaminating the waters where our wild fish live. Wild caught Alaskan salmon who for millinia have swum in our rivers and seas have thrived on what Mother Nature provided them with: healthy fats, micronutrients, vitamins and antioxidants including natural astaxanthin. It is this astaxanthin that turns a wild salmon's flesh its beautiful red color which helps keep us healthy when we eat them. For years, ecologists have been warning people to stay away from farmed salmon and the carnivorous "fish meal" filled with junk materials that are full of it. This includes oil of anchovies which carries polychlorinated biphenyls known as PCBs. These and other toxic chemicals pollute not only farmed fish but our own bodies when we by farmed fish. Viruses, parasites, banned chemicals, and antibiotics carry dangerous consequences both for us and for the natural marine species who still inhabit the oceans. Wild salmon are the vegetarians of the sea. They eat only plankton, krill, and algae. Near the end of their life they are ready to make their perilous way upstream, returning to the place of their birth to spawn and die. They will have spent all but this final five percent of their life in the freedom of the open ocean. Yet as of now an astounding ninety-nine percent of farmed salmon are penned and held within rivers that wild salmon swim up in from the open ocean to lay their eggs and spawn. Excess fish farm feed floats into the water surrounding the farm. As well as genetically engineered ingredients, farm feeds also contains antibiotics and chemical additives, pesticides, and feces from the farmed fish that massively contaminate wild salmon and other fish in the waters surrounding farms. Farmed fish are notorious for carrying diseases and spreading them. But ask an aquaculturist about this and he will tell you nothing about this. When I contacted some well-known fish farms, requesting that they provide me with a list of ingredients in their fish foods, all of them refused. One kind man, who shall remain nameless, dared to whisper the truth. "It has to be kept hush, hush. If the public knew what they were eating, they would stop buying farmed fish altogether—including farmed salmon." How do you know that you are buying real wild fish incljuding “wild salmon? It is not easy. Half of the salmon available in the United States, twice that much in the Uk and virtually all the salmon sold in New Zealand is farmed not wild. There is a tremendous amount of mislabling taking place in stores more than 80% of what is labeled “wild” is in truth farmed salmon. In truth, as Time Magazine discovered last year, “More than 2,500 tons of the food eaten in the United States is fake.” Meanwhile 30% of shrimp present as “wild” are actuallly farmed, 87% of fish labeled “snapper” and are something else, and the deception continues to grow.

The way that you choose to eat after an apple fast is vitally important. If you break your fast the wrong way, all the benefits of eating only apples for two days will be lost. Having got rid of the junk, you don’t want to put any more in. The first two or three days after your apple fast you should eat only raw food – particularly fruit. Don’t eat too much, chew your food well and eat slowly. This is good advice for anyone at any time. Putting too much of even the very best food into your system will lower your energy, because so much of your energy goes into digesting and assimilating the excess food and eliminating the wastes which are byproducts of metabolizing it. Don’t eat when you are not hungry, and stop as soon as you feel full. remarkably raw Raw foods have a remarkable ability to rebalance and restore the entire body. At the same time, a high-raw diet provides a full complement of essential vitamins, minerals and amino acids in an easily assimilable form. This means that, unlike a crash diet, which depletes your body of the nutrients it needs and leaves you tired and irritable, an apple fast followed by a few days on raw fruits and vegetables will give you lots of energy. For the first three days you will do best to eat something like this: breakfast Live Muesli or Energy Shake (see Go For It) midmorning A glass of fresh vegetable or fruit juice, or a cup of herb tea. Avoid coffee, tea, alcohol and soft drinks. lunch For an appetizer have slices of fresh fruit such as apple, mango or a slice of melon. Follow with a large raw salad. dinner Begin with a freshly-squeezed raw vegetable juice cocktail, or half a grapefruit. For a main course have another big raw salad with fresh fruit for desert. On the fourth day you can begin to add a little more cooked food, such as homemade lentil soup with a slice of wholemeal bread with a salad for lunch, or a piece of fresh fish or chicken with a salad for dinner. Each of us is different, so it’s important to listen to your body’s needs. Be sure to eat enough at each meal, but don’t stuff yourself. If you get hungry between meals have a piece of fresh fruit or some sunflower seeds. This is not a starvation diet. There is no need to cheat. After your detox and a few days on raw foods you will most likely want to keep that wonderful feeling of clean and fresh vitality. To do this you need to cut out the rubbish that you have been taking in such as convenience foods and highly processed foods, including breakfast cereals, bread made from refined flour, white pasta, white sugar and all the ‘goodies’ made from it. Choose organic tea or coffee to avoid taking in any more chemicals and pesticides than absolutely necessary. Drink no more than a cup or two a day. Don’t drink too much alcohol - have only a glass (or occasionally two at the most) of good wine with a meal once a day. And remember to drink plenty of spring water. Instead, take in foods which support the proper functioning of your body’s natural elimination processes, and remember not to overload your system in the morning when your liver is working hard. Go for eating 50-75 percent of your foods raw. Eat well on natural foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, pulses and nuts, with smaller quantities of steamed or wok fried fish, game and poultry. If this sounds boring, think again. sprout magic An excellent way to cram your meals with goodness is to sprout your own seeds (sometimes called bean sprouts). Seeds and grains are latent powerhouses of nutritional goodness and life energy. Add water to germinate them, let them grow for a few days in your kitchen and you will harvest delicious, inexpensive fresh foods of quite phenomenal health-enhancing value. The vitamin content of seeds increases dramatically when they germinate. The vitamin C content in soya beans multiplies five times within three days of germination - a mere tablespoon of soybean sprouts contains half the recommended daily adult requirements of this vitamin. The vitamin B2 in an oat grain rises by 1300 percent almost as soon as the seed sprouts, and by the time tiny leaves have formed it has risen by 2000 percent. Some sprouted seeds and grains are believed to have anticancer properties, which is why they form an important part of the natural methods of treating the disease. Another attractive thing about sprouts is their price. The basic seeds and grains are cheap and readily available in supermarkets and health food stores - chickpeas, brown lentils, mung beans, wheat grains and so forth. And since you sprout them yourself with nothing but clean water, they become an easily accessible source of organically grown fresh vegetables, even for city dwellers. dessert desert? no way Many people think that eating healthily means giving up all the things they like, such as sweet things and desserts. This is not true; I've put a couple of ideas in Go For It to start you off. But before you reach for the biscuits, there are a few things that it’s wise to know about sugar. Most people make the mistake of thinking that sugar gives them energy. True, sugar is high in calories, but these are largely empty. The energy jolt you feel after eating a bar of chocolate comes from the sugar flooding your bloodstream, which triggers the release of insulin. It is the job of insulin to keep things in balance, so it encourages the sugar not to be burned as energy, but rather to be stored as fat, thus reducing the level of your blood sugar. So, quick as a flash, your energy vanishes. Unfortunately, frequent sugar-eaters’ bodies tend to overreact and lower the blood sugar too much. This is why the familiar (and very short-lived) lift in mood and energy which comes from eating something sugary is soon followed by a depressive slump which can send you reaching for more sugar in a vicious cycle of fatigue and the effort to combat it. To avoid this high-low reaction and up-and-down cycle, steer clear of all refined carbohydrates – from sugar to white flour – and anything made from them. Instead choose complex carbohydrates, such as fruit, vegetables and wholemeal breads and cereals which release just the right kind of energy into your bloodstream slowly, bringing you sustained energy and enormous staying power. Eating sugar also robs your body of chromium, an important mineral which helps protect against chronic low blood-sugar and fatigue. Studies show that chromium deficiencies are common in Britain and the United States, in part because we eat so much refined sugar, and in part as a result of agricultural practices which have depleted our soils of the mineral. Eat raw fruits and vegetables that have been grown organically and you will be replacing all sorts of minerals lost through a diet of convenience foods. potassium power Potassium is another important mineral for keeping your body’s elimination processes working properly day to day. One of its jobs is to look after the activity of your nerves and muscles, and when too little of it is available you can become lethargic, weary and weak. It plays an important part in ensuring that your cells receive the oxygen and nutrients they need, and that their wastes are properly eliminated. Potassium is easily lost from your body. This means you need a fresh supply through your foods every day. Two factors contribute to potassium deficiency. First, potassium and sodium are antagonists which should balance each other in your body. Thanks to all the salt added to convenience foods and used at the table to season foods, many people eat a high-sodium diet. Then sodium gets the upper hand, potassium levels drop and you can end up chronically fatigued. Low potassium levels also result from our Western tendency to eat too few fresh fruits and vegetables, which are high in potassium. The best way to take in potassium is to take in lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, their juices and homemade vegetable soups. Also, stop seasoning your food with too much salt. There is plenty of natural sodium in wholesome foods without adding more. Three weeks of eating like this can dramatically heighten your energy levels and increase your over-all feeling of health.