U R What U Eat

There is no way around it. Who you are and how you operate in the world is directly connected to what you choose to put in your mouth and what your digestive system can efficiently convert into energy for you. I have held back talking about food because many people do not want to hear it. They know they need to make changes but are overwhelmed by the seemingly insurmountable task in front of them and find it easier to ignore the issue than to begin making heads or tails of it. So, if you don't want to learn anymore, stop reading here and check out another of the great Chatham Kent Daily Post Columns. If I have caught a little of your curiosity I do want to tell you that it is possible to shift from a junk food junkie to a whole food fan with some patience and perseverance. The first step is to do the research. Yes your Aunt Gertrude's friend of a friend may have lost 150 pounds on the cabbage soup diet but at what expense? Pull up your common sense and ask yourself if the program you are considering seems balanced and appropriate for you. Consider whether you can see yourself making this way a permanent part of your life, as temporary shifts in eating habits often lead to feelings of failure as far as personal nutrition is concerned, and limit your motivation to every try improving your ways again. Don't make dramatic changes in eating habits over short periods of time unless your life is at stake. Take it slow and easy, perhaps removing one kind of unhealthy food and replacing it with a healthy alternative and give your self several weeks to allow this change to become a normal part of your routine before making your next change.

Years ago when it became evident that I was intolerant of dairy products, a very common status of Blood Type O people, (I experienced major sinus problems, constipation, excess mucus production) I started eliminating it in stages. First I cut out all glasses of milk giving myself several months to adapt to this. Next I eliminated solid cheeses and left yogurt in my choices. Finally the yogurt went and I now occasionally eat goat or sheep cheese without any of the previous symptoms. This process took me over two years to complete and because I did it slowly and when I felt I was ready, I have not ever felt the need to return to the milk guzzling, cheese chewing person that I was, and my health has improved because of it.

So how do you begin to improve your eating habits? Which changes will give you the most bang for your buck? In my opinion there are three things that you can begin to eliminate, one at a time, that will undoubtedly have you felling better and more in balance. They are refined sugar, monosodium glutamate (MSG), and wheat & wheat products. Okay some of you really want to stop reading now, but I will repeat IT IS POSSIBLE! It is much easier today than it was 20 years ago when I cleaned up my diet. Our love affair with processed foods is waning and healthier choices are becoming more available every day. Refined sugar offers you nothing but empty calories and robs the body of essential nutrients as it is being processed in your system. Don't believe me? Check this out http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/refined-sugar-the-sweetest-poison-of-all.html It is a negative food. Eating it leaves you in a deficit and provides you only with refined carbohydrate energy aka hyper energy. And then of course there is the blood sugar crash that soon follows once your pancreas has jumped into action and pumped out insulin to deal with the rapid increase in blood sugar level from the refined sugar. The gentlest of people can become werewolves and foam at the mouth when their blood sugar is rebounding
from a sugar hit. So you can start reading labels on your foods looking for sugars of all forms. Refined sugar is a shape shifter and comes in many forms. Many products have several forms of it so that sugar does not have to appear as the first, most plentiful ingredient on the label. To make it easier to identify the sugars in packaged food products, here is a list of a hundred alternative names for hidden sugars:

Amasake
Apple sugar
Barbados sugar
Bark sugar
Barley malt
Barley malt syrup
Beet sugar
Brown rice syrup
Brown sugar
Cane juice
Cane sugar
Caramelized foods
Carbitol
Carmel coloring
Carmel sugars
Concentrated fruit juice
Corn sweetener
Corn syrup
Date sugar
Dextrin
Dextrose
Diglycerides
Disaccharides
D-tagalose
Evaporated cane juice
Evaporated cane juice
Florida crystals
Fructooligosaccharides (FOS)
Fructose
Fruit juice concentrate
Galactose
Glucitol
Glucoamine
Gluconolactone
Glucose
Glucose polymers
Glucose syrup
Glycerides
Glycerine
Glycerol
Glycol
Hexitol
High-fructose corn syrup
Honey
Inversol
Invert sugar
Isomalt
Karo syrups
Lactose
Levulose
"Light" sugar
"Lite" sugar
Malitol
Malt dextrin
Malted barley
Maltodextrins
Maltodextrose
Maltose
Malts
Mannitol
Mannose
Maple syrup
Microcrystalline cellulose
Molasses
Monoglycerides
Monosaccarides
Nectars
Neotame
Pentose
Polydextrose
Polyglycerides
Powdered sugar
Raisin juice
Raisin syrup
Raw sugar
Ribose rice syrup
Rice malt
Rice sugar
Rice sweeteners
Rice syrup solids
Saccharides
Sorbitol
Sorghum
Sucanat
Sucanet
Sucrose
Sugar cane
Trisaccharides
Turbinado sugar
Unrefined sugar
White sugar
Xylitol
Zylose

This list came from http://articlesunlimited.holisticnetworkexchange.com/sugar_diet.html

Next on the list is monosodium glutamate or MSG. To date this flavour enhancer has been identified as a neuro (brain) toxin and an appetite stimulant. You can read more for yourself http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Poisoning-America-Michelle-Erb/dp/0974199303 and decide how to proceed. Just like refined sugar, MSG has several aliases and is hard to spot at a glance. Here is what Health Canada has to say about it http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/addit/msg_qa-qr-eng.php Here is a list of some of the names that MSG also goes by Gelatin, Calcium Caseinate ,Monosodium glutamate, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP), Textured Protein, Monopotassium glutamate, Hydrolyzed Plant Protein (HPP), Yeast Extract, Glutamate, Autolyzed Plant Protein, Yeast food or nutrient, Glutamic Acid, Sodium Caseinate, Autolyzed Yeast, Vegetable Protein Extract, Senomyx (wheat extract labeled as artificial flavor). Take some time, decide for yourself.

The third item on my hit list for worst foods is wheat. There is not one blood type that responds well to this food according to the research conducted by Dr. John D'Adamo and his son Peter. Check out their work at www.dadamo.com . Give yourself lots of time to browse this site as there is a lot to discover there. Basically they believe that different blood types require different types of food to keep their bodies functioning at their peak. Many people throw this kind of “diet” into the categories of other diets like the South Beach Diet, The Atkins Diet, or the Zone Diet etc. I think there is a lot more wisdom to what the D'Adamos have to say and that in the future many more people will use their science to support their nutritional choices. I have been using myself as a human guinea pig experimenting with foods for more than 25 years and I have to say that their recommendations for my blood type O body are smack on to what I have found to be true for myself. Removing wheat from your food choices is a big task, but it can be done and the alternate choices available today, versus 25 years ago when I started my explorations with food, are tremendous.

The D'Adamo's recommendations for your blood type can give you many more suggestions to assist you to develop an eating plan that actually works for you. In these challenging times a good steady supply of energy from your food choices can assist you to meet these challenges and still have some energy left over to live your life fully.

You are probably feeling overwhelmed and under motivated about changing your eating habits if you have read this far. Don't despair. Small changes added a bit at a time can reward you with positive results and motivate you to continue. Your body will guide you in the right direction if you take the time to listen to it. The D'Adamos work is based on direct observation of interactions between food & blood proteins and has taken a lot of the guess work out what to eat and what not to eat. Over time your taste preferences can and do change, and when your body is receiving good nutrition it does not need to crave things in an effort to get you to give it the nutrients it is missing.


Positive Change IS Possible!