Myth Busting food fads!
So here are some thoughts about popluar food fads..let's start with chocolate. Even though chocolate is filled with antioxidants..it's a very finely ground substance mixed with fats and sugars that turns into an oil slick in your intestines..It coats your intestines with this gooey tar and keeps other nutrients from being absorbed for several days, so it blocks nutrients. Chocolate is a drug. I find, in women, it is often a substitue for good sex, because it creates this warm soft, rich, sensuous experience that changes brain chemistry. In my clinical experience, women that eat chocolate everyday suffer from lack of sensual pleasure. But hey, if it works for ya..go for it..just eat some raw carrots afterwards to scrub those intestines!
Wheat also has the effect of coating the intestines. Are you old enough to remember when your GrandMother made glue out of wheat and water? Wheat is finely milled and turns into glue in your intestines..coating them with a fine sticky paste. It is a hearty grain that built Western culture, but wheat is not like it used to be. Added gluten, to enhance shelf life, makes wheat a grain unlike it's origins. I've heard the wheat we consume now has up to 85% more gluten in it than 50 years ago..So it's to hard to digest and very inflamatory causing many allergies and sensitivities.
Green drinks are another poplular fad. Did you know that you should chew our green drink 100X. That's what Michio Kushi used to say about chewing vegetables. Your green drink is really a carbo load. You need to digest carbs in the mouth. You need to mix them well with saliva in order to digest well. They don't get digested in the stomach, where stomach acids are made to digest proteins. If you don't chew your green drink and mix it with saliva, it will create probelms for your digestion. Green drinks and other quick supplement drinks were never meant as meal replacement. They are meant as supplementation. Eat real food. People should chew their food. It's part of our evolution as a culture and species. Liquid food is only meant for babies and ultimtely weakens the digestion and the mind.
There has been a lot of talk about rice being a bad food, that it is toxic with arsenic and is high on the glycemic index..But if you eat ORGANIC RICE and eat it with beans, it becomes a complete protein and not a carb. The Ayurvedics say that brown rice creates phlegm.. but if you are a vegetarian or eating very little other phlegmy foods, rice won't give you phlegm. The cultures that love white rice, do so becasue it's tradition and class. Just like the French royalty that looked down on unmilled grains and wheat..other cultures saw refined rice as a sign of luxury and class. White rice also digests easier in some of the hot climates, where it is grown and eaten. There is Basmati white rice that is whole grain..perhaps the best of both worlds..? Remember to chew your rice well..as it needs to be broken down in the mouth.
Macrobiotic philosophy used to say chewing was a meditation. That chewing was one of the most important things we could do for our health, taking the time to savor the flavor. Eating and enjoying food, in a rest and digest, state of mind is crucial to good absorption and health.
ANd last but not least, food is only is as good as the love that is put into it. I can taste when there is love put into food. I can also taste when the chef has not put love into the food and puts a hurried, uncaring, perfunctory energy into the food. Sometimes I go out to eat in a fancy resturant only to be disapointed by the low quality energy that has been put into the dish. There is an energy transfer from chef to the food that is crucial to the taste and quality of the food. The chef should ideally be healthy in body, mind and spirit, have a deep respect for ingredients and truely love what they are doing..Otherwise it's expensive crap and poison. I'm more disappointed than pleased, when it comes to eating out. But a great meal cooked by a great chef is a great pleasure and gift..being served with love and skill is a great experience!
So now you have my busted food myths of the day..keep you posted for others..coming soon!