Eating Healthily

[femi fan]

I've spent a few months now researching ways to take care of my health. It was precipitated by having lower back problems that no doctor or specialist was able to fix for me. An xray showed no physical problem. My sleep suffered since after being prone for a while i would wake up and could not get comfortable. I'm in my forties.

Not only did i fix my back problems and regain my wonderful sleep, i gained much more flexibility in my whole body, have lost tendencies to what i thought was arthritis in my hands, and in general feel very alive.

That was last november. Fast forward... there are three main systems that i have found that seem to make a lot of sense to me, but they do not exactly coincide with their recommendations. The third one i report on is my favoured one for the moment, but since i've managed to fix myself very well, i'm interested if posters have any experience of one of the three systems i will describe, or if they live in healthy ways through some other kind of guidance.

1. Eat according to your blood type. Makes instinctive sense, but i could find no real corroboration to this diet which is written up by a dr d'adamo. This was what set me on my way though. Accordingly I stopped all pork products, coffee, cow's milk, cheese, yoghurts, processed foods, and in general cut down quite a bit my meat consumption, which was not a huge amount anyway. For three weeks i knocked booze on the head. I took to drinking green teas, oolong teas, and quite a lot of jiaogulan, and concentrated on getting a large amount of vegetables inside me, and tried to eat more fruit.

I no longer look at the list of foods for blood type diet, but remain off those i've just listed. I drink beer and sometimes wine, but can happily go days without and no longer drink beer at home. My back problems never return.

2. Follow ayurvedic recommendations for diet based on the three dosha types. I originally went to see who i thought was an ayurvedic practitioner who surprised me when she gave me the blood type diet. She also said to keep acidic-forming foods down to a minimum, and to start with gave me two weeks worth of alfalfa tablets which were alkaline-forming.

3. Employ a diet that contains more alkaline-forming foods and drinks than acidic ones. Recommendations vary from 60-80% alkaline-forming foods.

This is what i'm now going by having done all my combined research. What i like about this is that lifestyle also directly impact on the acidity or alkaline level of the blood. The key thing that is reported is that overly-acidic bodies are far more open to disease and illnesses attacking it.

This post is already getting to be a long one, and i'm keen to find out what health regimens people follow and any links that demonstrate the veracity of why they follow their own diet and recommendations. So i shall post up a couple of links to the third option in another post.

Of course if there's any experienced nutritionists out there, be my guest to comment! I've read that nutritionists will be the doctors of the future, and that until now, most doctors study very little by way of nutrition during their medical school, and are more about curing than preventing.

[femi fan]

Here is one such typical chart listing foods that are acidic- and alkaline-forming.

http://www.essense-of-life.com/moreinfo/foodcharts.htm

There are others, and generally they all agree, but some discrepancies occur, although many make a note of this anyway. Others I have investigated come from thewolfeclinic.com and becomehealthynow.com and trans4mind, and one from nard.org/health/acid-alkalinechart.pdf

My attention began by getting a copy of a book called Alkalize Or Die. What I liked about this book was that he covered things like state of mental health, lifestyle, music, colours, and so on, and their impact on our bodies in either an acidic- or alkaline-forming way. He also wrote that his investigations of all non-mainstream health systems, eg acupuncture, homeopathy, ayurvedic health care, and so on all showed one thing in common: they helped produce a body that became alkaline-forming.

When I look back at my own periods of good health and problematic health and those close to me, it backs up what is said about the dangers of an overly-acidic-forming diet and lifestyle. The writer of the book, an american, like many others is not complimentary about the general american diet at all, with good reason. Pretty much the same can be said for the british typical diet.

I then wanted to get to the bottom of this a bit more and find out how it was decided which foods were which. I found the following website which seems most authoritative.

http://www.actualcures.com/ph-chart-of-foo...al-supplements/

I have pretty much satsified myself how sound all of this is, and am concentrating on helping my body be healthy according to this acid/alkaline concept. But in this day and age there is just so much information out there about what’s good for you and what’s not. Hence my thread here on thaivisa.

I would be very interested to hear of anybody else following any of the three systems I listed in the OP, and anything else that posters do to keep themselves healthy and how they know it works!

[tim armstrong]

Here is one such typical chart listing foods that are acidic- and alkaline-forming.

http://www.essense-of-life.com/moreinfo/foodcharts.htm

There are others, and generally they all agree, but some discrepancies occur, although many make a note of this anyway. Others I have investigated come from thewolfeclinic.com and becomehealthynow.com and trans4mind, and one from nard.org/health/acid-alkalinechart.pdf

My attention began by getting a copy of a book called Alkalize Or Die. What I liked about this book was that he covered things like state of mental health, lifestyle, music, colours, and so on, and their impact on our bodies in either an acidic- or alkaline-forming way. He also wrote that his investigations of all non-mainstream health systems, eg acupuncture, homeopathy, ayurvedic health care, and so on all showed one thing in common: they helped produce a body that became alkaline-forming.

When I look back at my own periods of good health and problematic health and those close to me, it backs up what is said about the dangers of an overly-acidic-forming diet and lifestyle. The writer of the book, an american, like many others is not complimentary about the general american diet at all, with good reason. Pretty much the same can be said for the british typical diet.

I then wanted to get to the bottom of this a bit more and find out how it was decided which foods were which. I found the following website which seems most authoritative.

http://www.actualcures.com/ph-chart-of-foo...al-supplements/

There is a book on the blood type diet thats been around for about 10 years now, but can't remember the name. This makes sense to me, and for sure I feel healthiest on a semi-vegetarian diet with dark green vegies, fruit (non acid types), not many carbs and veg/ nuts for protein. But I also try and eat a lot of fish. The trouble is I am weak willed about food, and my wife is an excellent cook,

This type of diet was the one recommended at a recent nutrition conference in Oz recently, and by now most of us farlang know what is healthy and what isn't, but sticking to it is the problem

I have pretty much satsified myself how sound all of this is, and am concentrating on helping my body be healthy according to this acid/alkaline concept. But in this day and age there is just so much information out there about what’s good for you and what’s not. Hence my thread here on thaivisa.

I would be very interested to hear of anybody else following any of the three systems I listed in the OP, and anything else that posters do to keep themselves healthy and how they know it works!

[JSixpack]

1. Eat according to your blood type. Makes instinctive sense, but i could find no real corroboration to this diet which is written up by a dr d'adamo. This was what set me on my way though. Accordingly I stopped all pork products, coffee, cow's milk, cheese, yoghurts, processed foods, and in general cut down quite a bit my meat consumption, which was not a huge amount anyway. For three weeks i knocked booze on the head. I took to drinking green teas, oolong teas, and quite a lot of jiaogulan, and concentrated on getting a large amount of vegetables inside me, and tried to eat more fruit.

Doesn't make instinctive sense at all; why should it? However the foods you mention avoiding are on the avoid list of many healthy diets for obvious reasons. Eating more veggies and fruits is of course a typical recommendation of most nutritionists.

Coffee is notorious for interfering w/ sleep. Booze as well--you fall asleep faster after a drink, but later you wake up and can't go back to sleep.

So you stopped the coffee & booze, eat healthier, and lost some weight. How could your sleep not improve?

No need to resort to any hocus-pocus about blood types and alkalinity. Standard scientifically-proven nutritional advice commonly found in most healthy diet books is really what you're following. Looking at the list on the site you gave, I note that I eat a lot of the acidic foods but I stay slim and sleep just fine.

[femi fan]

No need to resort to any hocus-pocus about blood types and alkalinity. Standard scientifically-proven nutritional advice commonly found in most healthy diet books is really what you're following. Looking at the list on the site you gave, I note that I eat a lot of the acidic foods but I stay slim and sleep just fine.

The point is not to not eat acidic foods, but to make sure the balance is appropriate for one's health. I've always heard that this or that food is good for you or bad for you, but never been given any information that allows me to work things out for myself. I believe i've finally found such a system, and wanted feedback on it from others.

The other point was that the doctors and specialists i talked to could not fix me and said nothing about diet.

Also you talk about most healthy diet books, but in america there are thousands of conflicting diets that are 'good' for you. If the layman can get their hands on information that allows them to work things out for themselves, then all this 'expert' advice can be taken with a pinch of fish sauce...

[billzant]

Dear Femi Fan,

How are you?

Glad to hear you have improved your lower back.

I am interested in your choices of 2 and 3 although I know little of 2. I basically got involved in taking care of my own health - more or less - after visiting a doctor in Bangkok concerning Gerd. He told me that I should eat natural food - veg, grains, beans and fruit. I believe this diet is known as cheewajit here in Thailand, although it follows many macrobiotic principles. After a while on the diet I became concerned about how acidic the diet still was, and now make efforts to ensure a good pH balance. Basically my approach to diet is eating healthily, and the body will look after itself.

After a further time I bought a book called Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford, and this provides info on healing with whole foods herbs etc. This has greatly helped and I use it as reference. But this looks at Traditional Chinese Medicine as its background rather than Ayurvedic. Immediately I read your post I was reminded of his book in which he sees lower back pain as being a kidney chi issue.

I have started a non-commercial blog, ginsukapaapdee, about eating healthily in Thailand, and would like to encourage contributors such as yourself. I have previously had the URL censored, I don't know why - I hope mentioning the blog is OK, if you are interested please PM me.

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best,

Bill Z

[femi fan]

Hi Bill

Feeling good thanks! I've got pitchford's book and it's a real compendium! I've read quite a bit of it, but what i really have to try and do is summarise key bits of it, along with the acid/alkaline ideas, along with ayurveda principles, along with all the other bits i've found on the internet.

Sometimes i find what sounds pretty reasonable, but then i notice at some point they're trying to sell their products. While that doesn't make their info wrong, it leaves me with doubts as to the veracity of what they're saying. One example is coming across stuff on glyconutrients, don't know if you know anything on that?

As for your feelings of still having an acidic-forming diet, most grains seem to be acid-forming. But of course they have most useful nutrients in them! This, along with a few discrepancies with ayurvedic diets, led me to starting this thread.

And because of these discrepancies, i wanted to find some decent sources of information that gave a good background in deciding for oneself what is healthy, and why, and when, and for who. One example is drinking green tea which most references will say is healthy. But then i read other stuff that says it has caffeine in it, albeit at much less levels than coffee, or even black tea. Coconut is another food that has differing views.

And even with pitchford's book i find it difficult to really understand the different oils and what their influence is on the body.

What's Gerd?

Back to pitchford's book and traditional chinese medicine. Have you heard of or read a book called The China Study? It investigated their diet (before the recent trend of westernising it) in respect of why they had so few diseases compared to americans. Fascinating reading.

But it's squaring all of this information together that is the hard bit, and it's not enough for me to just accept that fruit and vegetables and grains, ie whole foods, are good for you. What i liked about the Alkalize or Die book was that it focused on the need for a balanced diet between acid- and alkaline-forming foods and lifestyle. So i could happily enjoy a few beers one night, so long as i had already eaten well that day!

And then there's the info that says non-organic fruits and vegetables provide less nutrients. Then there's the irradiated foods back in the UK, and no doubt the US. And so it goes on.

I am now keeping a diary of all my intake and how i feel every day, and at some point will do an analysis of it all to try and add up my balance between acid- and alkaline-forming foods.

Have you come across such drinks as jiaogulan tea, wheatgrass juice, kombucha?

I'll take a look at your blog. Cheers for the input.

[Tolley]

No need to resort to any hocus-pocus about blood types and alkalinity. Standard scientifically-proven nutritional advice commonly found in most healthy diet books is really what you're following. Looking at the list on the site you gave, I note that I eat a lot of the acidic foods but I stay slim and sleep just fine.

The point is not to not eat acidic foods, but to make sure the balance is appropriate for one's health. I've always heard that this or that food is good for you or bad for you, but never been given any information that allows me to work things out for myself. I believe i've finally found such a system, and wanted feedback on it from others.

The other point was that the doctors and specialists i talked to could not fix me and said nothing about diet.

Also you talk about most healthy diet books, but in america there are thousands of conflicting diets that are 'good' for you. If the layman can get their hands on information that allows them to work things out for themselves, then all this 'expert' advice can be taken with a pinch of fish sauce...

I am guessing you might be a blood type A from your comments.

I am blood type A and my family history is one of inflammatory conditions most notably arthritis.

I think there is a lot of truth in sticking to the blood type A diet although i cannot manage it 100 percent myself but if i do stick to it do feel very good.

Different blood types react differently to the same food and I think this may very well be true.

For the cynics out there you might want to have a look and try it rather than condemning it outright.

[femi fan]

I am guessing you might be a blood type A from your comments.

I am blood type A and my family history is one of inflammatory conditions most notably arthritis.

I think there is a lot of truth in sticking to the blood type A diet although i cannot manage it 100 percent myself but if i do stick to it do feel very good.

Different blood types react differently to the same food and I think this may very well be true.

For the cynics out there you might want to have a look and try it rather than condemning it outright.

I'm an O type!

Like i said though, my path to trying to be more healthy began by dropping certain foods according to the eat right for your blood type diet, and health improved dramatically.

The lady i originally saw, a ayurveda practitioner so i thought, did tell me at the time to follow the O type diet, but to make that diet come second to ensuring i ate plenty of alkaline-forming foods. I asked her if there was a conflict between the two, and she said go with the acid and alkaline charts she gave me.

My subsequent research has shown there to be a lot more info and varied sources compared to the blood type diet, which essentially comes from just one doctor in the US. But his info got rid of my back problems and gave me more flexibility in my body and stopped my intermittent arthritic-type pains in my hands. All gone for nigh on a year now.

So, yeah, that blood type diet does have its merits for sure! It also makes intuitive sense that foods good for some people are bad for others. Not the least because we all have different tastes. And, here's the killer (sorry for the choice of word!), our blood is essentially formed from the foods and drinks we eat. So we had better look after our blood's needs!

Thanks for the input, i'm hoping this thread will become a source of individuals' experiences, thereby providing more corroboration for what i've researched on the net and in books.

[mahtin]

I drink water from one of these Water Ionizer/alkalizers.

Totally recommend it.

It attaches to the tap, though, which might be a problem in Thailand if you can't drink tapwater

Edited August 19, 2009 by mahtin