Excerpt

Chapter 2: DIET (or DIEing To eat)

You are what you eat actually means YOUR CELLS are what you eat. Now, since all your organs, skin, muscles, bones and brain are just simply a big, coagulated, mass of cells, re-read the first sentence again before you go further!

You may see me refer to certain nutrients and use supplement terms unfamiliar to you. These are all covered in detail in the Supplements Chapter 4.

Please consider a few statistics before we move on to the meat of what a true diet should be for those preferring a lonnnng, kick-up-your heels second half of life.

A. The French have of the obesity rate of us (U.S.), despite eating the richest foods and consuming more wine than found anywhere on the planet. However they snack much less than us and they eat slowly savoring their food. Try it, youll like it. A study released in February, 2006 by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) covering 12 years, stated that following a low-fat diet shows little evidence of reducing the risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, or even heart disease. Whoahhh!

B. The American Dietetic Association, in August, 2002, concluded that the COST of eating healthy nutritious foods vs. eating unhealthy foods was about the same. The ADA wasnt even factoring in that it takes so much more quantity of refined and dead food to maintain a satisfied appetite. So no more BS that you cant afford to eat the good stuff. Youve been busted.

C. The government estimates that 127 million Americans are overweight, with 60 million considered obese. The rate of obesity has doubled in the last decade for us, while we were introduced to more than 5,000 brand new low-fat and non-fat foods along with thousands of weight loss diet books and their gurus. Whats wrong with this picture? Oh, I will show you.

D. If youre a mom, this will make you bulemic: Children under 10 years of age are developing type 2 diabetes. This is called adult diabetes because 30 years ago no one under 40 got this disease. The reason for that is it takes (or used to take) about 40 years of consuming enough sugar to wear out the human pancreas. Over the years, sugar has become hidden in every single food item that is in a box, bottle, can, or wrapper (especially fast food wrappers). And what do you think the most frequently eaten food for children is, from more than 10,000 different foods? FRENCH FRIES.

E. OBESITY IS AN EPIDEMIC! It kills 300,000 of us a year. (AIDS kills less than one tenth of that and how many obesity telethons have you seen lately?) For you accountants, the cost of obesity is more than $130 billion annually. All of this makes me sick! We landed on the moon over 37 years ago and were going to Twinkie ourselves to death on earth. Even sadder is that fat people are the hungriest people among us because their cells are starving to death. Fat people are literally DIEing To eat! Alright, the reality is most of you arent going to radically change your food lifesyle. Thats actually O.K., because if you implement even some of the following choices, your cells will become so enriched they will alter your brains perception of food in such a way that youll start to crave better and better foods. So, what can you do to improve the situation today?

First, lets set the record straight about these recommendationswhen I use the word diet, Im referring to all the food you consume for the rest of your life. Im not writing a weight loss book because its not necessary. If youre overweight and eat when youre hungry following these guidelines, you WILL lose weight (and live a long time). If youre not overweight but follow my recommendations, you are going to feel and look better than you ever have and hopefully live to 101. Now, lets not talk about that nasty weight loss thing anymore.


Honey, trust me on this

QUESTION: Sometimes days will go by when I just dont have time to sit down to a fresh salad or plate of fresh vegetables. I worry about this, but salad preparation can be daunting when Im on the run.

ANSWER: Of course youre worried along with millions of other diet savvy people who gulp down a Burger King in hungry desperation. Look, a veggie is a veggie whether its in a salad bowl or a baggie. If youre in a low blood sugar tailspin and have to grab some fast food on the way home or need to slam some ham between bread when you walk in the door, go right ahead. BUT, reach for the first green or bright red vegetable you see in your fridge and put it on your plate too. Im talking about just one thing not an assortment! If youve got lettuce, muscle off a big handful of leaves and nibble them with your fingers along with your sandwich. Maybe grab a cucumber or bell pepper and carve off wedges as you devour your fast food treat. There is truly no one over the age of one who loves potato chips more than I, but I satisfy that crunchy/salty desire with thick slices of veggies sprinkled with a little kosher salt whenever I indulge in fast food sin. Guess what? The fiber and minerals in those hunks of produce greatly reduce the fat thats destined to wind up in your bloodstream. And I love it that raw fruits and vegetables are loaded with enzymes; theyre like little sparkplugs that put the life back into a dead meal. So forget about peeling, slicing, tossing and dont despair over a burger or a burrito! Just throw a big handful of ANYTHING raw on your plate and go at it kid style with your fingers. Theres no clean up eitherjust wash your hands and youre out of the kitchen guilt free.