Diet Suggestions

Summary:
1. Limit consumption of nightshade vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers and completely avoid them is there is a chronic inflammatory disorder such as arthritis.
2. Limit starchy foods and sugar and if they are eaten, balance with adequate protein and good oils.
3. Eat plenty of non-starchy vegetables.
4. Limit processed foods as much as possible.
5. Avoid trans fats and hydrogenated oils.
6. Lower or eliminate wheat consumption.
7. Ensure adequate consumption of protein, undamaged oils including essential fatty acids, plus minerals especially magnesium, and other vital nutrients.

Diet is one of the most, if not the most, important aspects of maintaining good health. Sometimes simple diet changes, like avoiding the nightshade vegetables, eating less starches and sugars, avoiding unsterilized dairy products, or even just swapping that daily morning glass of orange juice for a glass of grapefruit or pineapple juice, is all that is needed to alleviate or at least greatly improve some health problems. Sometimes major diet changes are required, like completely avoiding wheat or dairy. Diet regimens should effect noticeable improvement within two weeks in conditions for which they are effective.

People usually do best on a diet which has adequate protein and good oils while limiting starches and sugars as recommended by the Zone, ER4YT, and Metabolic Typing diets (below). Dr. Mercola says on his site, "Some people are just not designed to eat much protein, and they do quite well with small amounts. Unfortunately, many people who are not biochemically suited to vegetarianism decide to become vegetarians. Some of the sickest patients I see are those who are protein types according to Metabolic Typing who have chosen to become vegetarian for health or spiritual reasons." That is the most common error I see, too, for people who think they are "eating healthy."

The Zone Diet regulates blood sugar levels and optimizes prostaglandin (hormone) production. It is the best regenerative diet regimen. It can provide remarkable energy, mental focus, and improvement in many disorders, especially inflammatory ones. It is often used to fight high serum cholesterol and obesity.

Eat Right 4 Your Type. The ER4YT diet excels at alleviating conditions caused or contributed to by lectins and other dietary allergens, and endotoxins, based on one's blood type. It can provide benefit in many disorders, especially those of the skin, digestive, and immune systems plus many inflammatory disorders.

Hulda Clark's Diet Suggestions are based not on lectins or protein, fat, and carb ratios, but almost exclusively on avoiding toxins and pathogens in foods.

The Atkin's Diet allows unlimited protein, fats, and oils to be consumed.

Problems with Soy

Fats and Oils Discusses aspects of these essential nutrients.

Essential Fatty Acid Metabolism describes how EFAs are used in the body and includes a diagram of the process.

Recipes has some health-building recipes.

Orthorexia Nervosa is a term coined by David Knight and Steven Bratman for the book Eating for Perfection and defined as "The Health Food Eating Disorder." It refers to some health fanatics' fixation on eating only the "proper" foods and the humor in the wildly different definitions of what "proper" is depending on the diet.

At left is a food pyramid drawn to what actually makes people healthy, not by political correctness or by political pressures from the US grain or dairy lobbies. Note that although legumes/beans are considered by many to be starches or carbs, in this analysis they are considered protein since their high fiber and protein content mitigate blood sugar levels, so are a fine food for many people, but only when ER4YT is taken into account - eat only favorable legumes since beans tend to have the highest levels of lectins of common foods.