Food Choices
Even small amounts
of poorly chosen or even less-than-optimal foods
appear to slow down or derail the healing process.
An example: early in dealing with my Lyme disease,
I adopted an all raw-foods approach for a time,
including raw meat and fish and raw milk. I also
included unprocessed, unheated honey. Over the
course of a few months, it became clear to me
that honey was one factor in my diet that was
clearly responsible for the continued low-level
symptoms of Lyme I experienced. Honey was something
I simply could not eat if I wanted full recovery.
Similarly, there was no place for any but the
smallest amount of fruit in my diet. This need
to eliminate everything sweet in order to get
well has been the case for many of my patients,
patients with a wide variety of medical problems.
The highly
addictive nature of not only sweets and other
highly processed modern foods, but also carbohydrates
in general, including whole grain foods, makes
a diet based on animal foods an vegetables a difficult
proposition for many people. The heart of the
matter lies in the relative importance one assigns
food in the overall scope of one's life.
To put it in
terms of extremes: some people see food as entertainment,
as an end in itself, and some see food as fuel,
as a means to an end. Of course we all fall somewhere
between these extremes, but most of us fall closer
to one pole than the other. The more food becomes
a means to an end, the easier it is to gravitate
to foods that promote health. This does not mean
that eating simple foods cannot be a great pleasure.
In fact, the tastes of plain foods--fresh raw
milk, unadorned meat or fish, perhaps raw or lightly
cooked with butter and perhaps spices, fermented
vegetables--become more pronounced and satisfying
as one consistently avoids sweets, breads and
other prepared foods. The satisfying and satiating
taste of animal fat far surpasses the instant
and temporary allure of sweets and starches.
It pays to
be aware of how different each of us is when it
comes to nutrition and healing. The principles
Dr. Price discovered apply to each and every one
of us, yet it appears that many of us have idiosyncrasies
that profoundly affect our ability to heal and
obtain optimal health. The reward of a willingness
to experiment and make changes can be profound;
the confidence that one's body will function smoothly
and effortlessly into advanced age may provide
a unique satisfaction. And when and if it doesn't--well,
then back to the drawing board; life is change,
and every symptom has a lesson.
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