Do We Really Need Doctors? : Part 4

Alot of people always begin to ask themselves, where do I start? That is the obvious first question when it comes to transitioning into a different diet, lifestyle changes, detox plans and whichever modification related to health, weight loss and even fitness. The first step towards the big decision and transformation in life, always involved this question, "Where Do I Start?".

Before we proceed further, I will present to you, a list of diet questionnaires which will determine where will you start your journey, and it will eventually guide you to how you should be eating, in a well planned manner. These questions, will closely determine your own metabolic type, although it is not a complete and full assessment, but at least, it is adequate to start your journey leading you to understanding of how you should be eating, according to your own body's requirement and what is optimal for you.

1. I sleep best

a) When I eat a snack high in protein and fat 1-2

hours before going to sleep.

b) When I eat a snack higher in carbohydrates 3-4

hours before going to sleep.

2. I sleep best if

a) my dinner is composed of mainly meat with

some vegetables or other carbohydrates.

b) my dinner is composed mainly of vegetables or

other carbohydrates and a comparatively small

serving of meat.

3. I sleep best and wake up feeling rested

a) if I don’t eat sweet deserts like cakes, candy or

cookies. If I eat a rich desert that is not overly

sweet, such as high-quality full-fat ice cream, I

tend to sleep okay.

b) if I occasionally eat a sweet desert before I go

to bed.

4. After vigorous exercise, I feel best when I consume

a) foods or drinks with higher protein and/or fat

content, such as a high-protein shake.

b) foods or drinks higher in carbohydrates

(sweeter), such as Gatorade or other sports drinks.

5. I do best maintain mental clarity and a sense of well-being for up to 4 hours after a meal, when I eat

a) a meat-based meal containing heavier meats

such as chicken legs, roast beef and salmon,

with a smaller portion of carbohydrate.

b) a carbohydrate-based meal containing

vegetables, bread or rice and a small portion of a

lighter meat such as chicken breast or white fish.

6. If I am tired and consume sugar or sweet foods such as donuts, candy or sweetened drinks without significant amounts of fat or protein

a) I get a rush of energy, but then I am likely

to crash and feel sluggish.

b)  I feel better and my energy levels are restored

until my next meal.

7. Which statement best describes your disposition toward food in general

a) I love food and live to eat!

b) I am not fussed over food and I eat to live.

8. I often

a) add salt to my foods.

b) find that foods are too salty for my liking.

9. Instinctually, I prefer to eat

a) dark meat, such as the chicken or turkey legs

and thighs over the white breast meat.

b) light meat such as the chicken or turkey breast

over the dark leg and thigh meat.

10. Which list of fish most appeals to you?

a) Anchovy, caviar, herring, mussels, sardines,

abalone, clams, crab, crayfish, lobster,

mackerel, octopus, oyster, salmon, scallops,

shrimp, snail, squid, tuna (dark meat)

b) White fish, catfish, cod, flounder, haddock,

perch, scrod, sole, trout, tuna (white), turbot

11. When eating dairy products, I feel best after eating

a) Richer, full fat yogurts and cheeses or desserts.

b) Lighter, low fat yogurts and cheeses or desserts.

12. With regard to snacking

a) I tend to do better when I snack between meals

or eat more smaller meals throughout the day.

b) I tend to last between meals without snacking.

13. Which describes the way you instinctually prefer to start your day in order to feel your best and to have the most energy?

a) A large breakfast that includes protein and fat,

such as eggs with sausage or bacon.

b) A light breakfast such as cereal, fruit, yogurt,

breads and possibly some eggs.

14. Which characteristics best describe you

a) In general, I digest food well, have an appetite

for proteins, feel good when eating fats or fatty

foods, am more muscular or inclined to gain

muscle and/or strength easily.

b) I am more lithe of build, prefer light meats and

lower fat foods, am more inclined toward

endurance athletics.

Now, once you have answered all these questions, you may drop me a comment or email, and I will let you know your results. Once you have the results, you can consult with your integrated doctor diet to refine your eating habits even further by taking a moment to look at your body's energy and nutrient requirements.

Let’s say, for example, that you’ve taken our questionnaire and determined that you are a Polar type. This means, in general, that each meal you eat should be divided up into portions of predominantly protein intake, and moderate carbs and as well slightly lower in fat. I know what the Paleolithic community will say about this as recommending eating a low fat diet would be a disaster. And you are right! It is not a recommendation of low fat diet. It is a lower intake of slightly lower fat requirement, and slightly higher in protein.

However, this particular eating plan recognizes that your body’s nutritional needs can vary from one day to the next, and even meal to meal. So lets take a closer look at your nutrient/energy requirements (diagram below). Starting first, you will see that there are three gauges that track factors such as weather, activity/stress levels, and menstrual cycles that may influence your eyes to no-eyes food ratio from day to day. Each of these gauges will push you to the left or to the right of the diagram depending upon the weather, your stress level or the duration of your menstrual cycle.

Clinically, I find that the stressors listed above can affect your animal to plant food ratio as much as one serving in either direction, depending on the intensity and duration of the stress. In short, this means that there is no such thing as a fixed diet for anyone because nobody ever is the same person day to day, nor are the environments and circumstances that influence our food needs the same day to day, and there goes about most of the diet books right there!

The main goal of the diagram displayed is to help you raise your level of awareness and learn to hear what your body is telling you about your own metabolic requirement needs on any given day in order get the foods that best meet those requirements. Once you have used the chart for a while, I think you’ll find that you become sensitive enough to your body’s language that you just won’t need it anymore.

Now, you must be asking yourself. How Do I Know if I’ve Got it Right? Look now at the box labeled, 3-D Body Energetics(bottom left) in the diagram and you’ll see a list of body systems that are essential to supporting your life. When your food ratio is correct and you are eating a variety of high quality, organic, whole foods instead of CRAP, not only does your diet result in efficient energy production for the body, it assures that you have enough energy to run your key biological survival systems.

In other words, aside from being able to last comfortably for three to four hours between meals without cravings, you can tell that your eyes to no-eyes ratio is correct because you won’t experience short-term negative symptoms such as:

• Food cravings

• Headaches or nervous twitches (typically in the eyes, arms

or legs)

• Energy and mood highs and lows

• Chronic problems with colds and nagging illnesses

• Shifts in body temperature and metabolism

• Mental fogginess

• Lowered sex drive

• Cold hands and feet

• Poor digestion − including constipation or loose bowel

movements

Now, looking to the right side of diagram, you can see that cholesterol is the source molecule for most of your sex, growth, repair/immune and stress hormones. Well, the most common mistake which our integrated doctor diet has to correct is not eating enough quality, organic, free-range animal foods, which are the most bio-available sources of cholesterol. Cholesterol, while thought of as the bad guy, is wrongly blamed and mistaken for the cause of heart disease. Did mother nature purposely put in something in our body which could kill us?  I DON'T THINK SO.

The fact of the matter is that the more you are under chronic physical, emotional, mental or spiritual stress, the more stress hormones your body produces. As this happens, your body requires more cholesterol to cope with the increased hormones. It’s a fact that if your diet isn’t providing the necessary cholesterol, your body simply manufactures it! Furthermore, why does your body manufacture both cholesterol and saturated fats (the so-called bad fats) but not the unsaturated fats? Did Mother Nature screw up? Again, I don’t think so! The reason why it produces these fats is because they are an essential component of most cell membranes in your body.

The stress hormone cortisol is a critical hormone along with adrenaline and insulin. Cortisol is a critical hormone because, quite simply, in times of emergency cortisol is responsible for creating clots to stop you from bleeding to death, elevating your heart rate and blood pressure, and increasing alertness.

To the degree that your body-mind believes it is under stress, it manufactures and uses more and more cholesterol to make cortisol. During times of stress, cortisol production will trump the production of other hormones such as sex, growth and immune hormones in order to keep you alive. So if you’re under high stress, animal fats become very important. They help your body build the cortisol it needs and minimizes the body’s need to divert all of its resources away from your secondary hormones in order to manufacture the cholesterol it needs.

Also, bear in mind that eating organic animal foods is especially important because animal fat will store any toxins introduced into the animal (including you) for long periods of time as a means of protecting the body. Unfortunately for both the animal and the consumer, commercially farmed animals are often carelessly fed such things as sawdust, cement powder, engine oil, industrial waste, plastic chips, and poor quality grains that are rejected by humans as foods because they contain high levels of fungal infection! Most Genetically Modified (GMO) grains today feed to commercially raised animals too. So you really are getting a double whammy!

The toxins from this sort of feed are stored in the animal’s fat and so passed on to you, the consumer. The consumption of commercial animal foods and plant foods significantly increases your body’s burden, creating more and more stress and requiring the production of more and more cholesterol. Combine this with the low-fat diet recommended by most nutritionists, and you’ll find your sex drive is disappearing before your very eyes.

Your body is trying desperately to keep you alive and reproduction is the last thing mother nature wants sick animals, or humans to attempt! Think about it, to handle the situation any other way would halt evolution in its tracks. This is what we’ve been doing with so called conventional medical-nutritional wisdom for the past 100 years!

Next, water. Perhaps the most important advice that your integrated diet doctor has to offer you concerns water. At the most basic level, water serves two important functions: hydration and cleansing. But, water is also an essential component for many of your body’s chemical reactions too. For this reason, it’s crucial to keep yourself well hydrated with quality water. If you have recently read the dehydration posts i wrote previously, you will realize how important water is to our body.

Most of us are exposed to a number of toxins and pollutants through the foods we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. Commercially farmed produce and animals are laden with poisonous herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and rodenticides. Water serves as your primary cleaning agent, flushing these toxins out of the body. So, remember to drink at least half your body weight of water daily, for survival, metabolism, cellular functions and elimination of toxins. Stay tuned.

- Energy/Nutrient Requirements -