Food habits

Reduce the "Damp-forming" foods
Returning to our theme of dampness in the system caused by the poor digestion. The "damp" forming foods are obviously the ones that should be removed. Most of you will be able to identify the main culprits - dairy and wheat. But there are others - bananas, concentrated orange and tomato juices, soy products, pork and rich meats, fats, bread, yeast, alcohol and sugars.


Reduce the "Cold" foods
Then there are the "cold" foods which include all food and drink that is taken cold or raw. An overload of damp and cold foods impairs the digestion. The Chinese have an energy equation where they measure the net amount of energy that is derived from a food after digestion. In other words, you subtract the amount of energy the body uses to bring the food to body temperature and digest it, from the total energy value of that food. Warm and easily digestible foods obviously will come out on top - they will deliver more net energy than cold, damp foods.

So the diet will rely heavily on vegetables cooked in their own juices and ripe fruits (they will not tax the system), and cereal grains and legumes for their energy and protein content. But the person with the poor digestion may be unable to tolerate grains and legumes, so how do we adjust to meet these requirements? We bring these foods down to a minimum (but observe cooking techniques - see later) and bring the vegetables up to a maximum - which means juicing. But isn't this increasing the content of cold and raw? You are right, except when you juice you are actually increasing the net energy of the food.


Include vegetable juices
Freshly prepared juices, strained so that there is no fibre, require very little digestion. Not only this, if you use a juicer that does not destroy the enzymes, and take the juice as soon as it is prepared (60% of enzymes die within 30 minutes), then the nutrients contained within the living enzymes are rapidly taken up by the body, particularly the sick tissues which have already lost their capacity to recycle, retain and utilize nutrients. These tissues are unable to reactivate their own enzyme systems and so by default, they perpetuate a state of nutritional deficiency, even if plied with chemical nutrients. However, nutrients in their living state will support and replenish the enzyme systems of the cells until such a point when the organs are sufficiently restored to take over their full function. Nutrients fall out of their living state when the enzymes die or are oxidized, and they are no longer as effective. Enzymes are only living when taken in the raw state of the vegetable or fruit, not freeze-dried or processed in any other way.

Observe Food Preparation/Cooking Techniques
Cooked foods, particularly the cereal grains and legumes, must be prepared properly to maximize their nutritional value. They may form only a small part of the diet; perhaps you will take an oat porridge for breakfast daily, and include brown rice and legumes three times weekly. Protein requirements can be made good through the volume of juicing and by taking small amounts of yoghurt, already partially digested through bacterial activity (sheep or goat is less damp-forming than cow's), preferably unpasteurized and organic.

The food preparation techniques for the seeds (nuts, grains and legumes are all seeds) are paramount to digestibility. It is the soaking, followed by the semi-germinating of these products that enables maximum digestion and absorption of nutrients. Soaking for at least 12 hours, inactivates phytic acid (very high in soy products) which binds with, and leads to heavy losses of dietary calcium, iron and zinc; while semi-germinating (rinse and drain the soaked seed and place in a glass bowl covered with a damp cloth for 12 hours) inactivates the enzyme inhibitors contained in all seeds. These inhibitors, which stop the seed from germinating until conditions are right, will inactivate your own digestive enzymes - hence the tremendous digestive difficulties people may experience with these products. I would recommend starting with lentils if your digestion is very poor.

So the diet is simple, it won't jam the system and it will allow the digestion to restore. I use very few supplements, as if we can get the body to unlock all the nutrients - both the discovered and undiscovered, in their correct composition, mixture and quantity - then what better medicine can you get. However, I do recommend digestive enzymes, and the poorer the digestion, the more we take. There are many to choose from, both plant and animal enzymes are available (the ones derived from animal sources tend to be more effective). The basic rule of thumb is that you take as many as required, that will alleviate digestive discomfort on this very simple diet. Charcoal is quite good for alleviating the gas. You can take some salads, as the digestion will allow, and remember, to take your juices fresh, to help to eliminate gas build-up.