The benefits of eating a healthier diet and the "Why"

How is your weekend going fellow bloggers? I hope it is going well for you!

I have been busy, shopping and chores, making meals for my family. Emma moved back home, so I have been adjusting the menu's again and reworking my schedules to fit her drs. appointments.

I have also been researching the benefits of the E2L diet some more and also a more raw based diet in conjunction with the healing of Psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis. In most cases when a person chooses to eat the E2L plan the psoriasis completely fades out, leaving delicate pink flesh that over time will heal and become as soft and supple as it was before this disease and the crippling pain of PsA is cut in half...

I am recieving some flack from my outside family (not my own unit) about this and also from my friends here in Kansas and frankly it is wearing on me. They believe a whole host of problems will befall me in a matter of days after I start these plans, they also do not find this way of eating appealing... I think it is ludicris to even have these conversations when they eat over processed garbage and call it food.

People are scared of change, especially if it is in regards to their food!

In my opinion, you cannot eat sugar, and flour, syrups, soda's, chocolate, crackers, white flour pasta's, muffins, pies, cakes and cookies, dairy, meat, or margarine and say you are healthy. Everytime you take a bite of a processed food it breaks down your immune system. Every time you indulge in a sugary treat you are allowing yourself to get invaded with free radicals..

I am not new to the food game. I have been radical before. I have cured myself before with food.
But, I was weak. I am human, and I wanted to eat like everyone else.
Was it worth it to eat the pecan pie, grilled cheese sandwiches and fat ladened food?
AND...
What happened to me after my food fest?

Plaques happened.....Huge scaly, sore, crippling patches of excess skin began building at a rate that was three times what it was at the onset of my disease... THREE TIMES!
Then boils came to play and attacked my torso. Psoriatic arthritis presented itself 5 years ago and started crippling my hips and lower back. It is called mutilans. It destroys bone and cartilage and deteriorates your spine. Spondylitis plays a factor too, in crippling me ...

You see, I am not battling my weight, I am battling for my life. I can be crippled by my 40th birthday. I can die before I am 60, and both are not options for me.

What are the Benefits of the Raw Food Diet?

Proponents of the raw food diet believe it has numerous health benefits, including:
•Increased energy

•Improved skin appearance

•Better digestion

•Weight loss

•Reduced risk of heart disease
The raw food diet contains fewer trans fats and saturated fat than the typical Western diet. It is also low in sodium and high in potassium, magnesium, folate, fiber and health-promoting plant chemicals called phytochemicals.

These properties are associated with a reduced risk of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. For example, a study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that consumption of a raw food diet lowered plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations.

What are the benefits of E2L:

Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Plan is very forward facing. Do what he says and reap the benefits of healthy eating.
There are no gimmicks in this diet. It is exquisitely simple, thanks to a fundamental principle that Dr. Fuhrman has distilled from thousands of studies of human nutrition. That formula is Health = Nutrient/Calories. For each calorie we take in, we want to receive maximum nutrient density. Thus, this diet is called a high nutrient density diet. This principle leads to a reformulation of the current Food Pyramid so that fresh vegetables are at the base, most abundant, with fresh fruits and legumes next, then nuts and seeds, and only then complex carbohydrates such as whole grains. Animal protein, including dairy, eggs and meat, are at the very top, along with fats, oils, and simple carbohydrates. This is the basic structure of the high nutrient-density diet. Dr. Fuhrman is well aware of the normal American's food addictions (he is in private practice full-time and provides nutritional counseling to all of his patients) so he includes a 90% rule in the plan. This allows for 10% of total calories to come from food groups at the very top of the pyramid.

One great advantage of this diet plan is that it is very filling. Most people have trouble eating as many vegetables and fruits as are recommended - up to one pound of raw and one pound of cooked vegetables per day! If one approaches these amounts in one's meals, there is little room left for low-nutrient, high-calorie food, and excess starches - a common downfall of most low-fat diets.

Low fat diets have been criticized of late because studies have shown that they increase triglyceride and insulin levels. So an important point is that this diet's main feature is not that it is low fat, rather it is high in nutrients and fiber. Other low-fat diets allow a liberal intake of starches such as pasta and rice, so of course the studies have shown an adverse metabolic response. Not so with Fuhrman's plan; studies show the opposite, it lowers triglycerides and dramatically improves cholesterol ratios.

Dr. Fuhrman also addresses the common misperception that a vegetable-heavy diet is lacking in protein. He makes the point that 100 CALORIES (not grams) of a green vegetable contain dramatically more protein than 100 CALORIES of meat. 100 calories of vegetable is about one pound, whereas 100 calories of meat is about one ounce. So food tables can be very misleading. I calculated the protein content of a sample meal plan and found the percentage of calories from protein to be over 10% - well within the range of current national dietary guidelines. Dr. Fuhrman also makes the point that the SOURCE of the protein in one's diet is also of critical importance. Animal protein raises cholesterol; plant protein lowers it.

Clearly, Dr. Fuhrman believes that knowledge is power. The first four chapters provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of human nutrition. The explanations are scientifically accurate and very clear, with graphics to illustrate. Throughout the book, extensive scientific citations are provided. In chapter five he evaluates other popular diet plans, including the Atkins plan, and exposes their flaws. Chapter six explains the high nutrient density diet. The average weight loss is 15 pounds the first month and 10 pounds monthly thereafter. This chapter also discusses important issues and misunderstandings related to macronutrients - proteins, carbohydrates and fats.

Chapter seven is perhaps the most powerful chapter of the book. It offers compelling evidence of dietary causes for most of the common health problems faced by Americans. Then Dr. Fuhrman explains how diet can prevent and even reverse heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, chronic headaches, and autoimmune disease. He relates true stories of patients (who gave permission to be named) who have been able to stop their antihypertensive, antianginal, and antidiabetic drugs; patients who have experienced gradual elimination of their chest pain; patients who have been able to stop their use of toxic drugs for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. I was able to review the charts of Dr. Fuhrman's patients and verified that he is accurately presenting these results.

Chapter eight offers the six-week weight loss plan based on the high nutrient density diet. The sample meal plans and recipes are wonderful, obviously drawn from his and his family's own experience of observing this diet for many decades. The only addition I would have liked to see is more discussion of how those who are already slender can keep their caloric intake at an appropriate level. For them, more nuts and beans and more whole grains are clearly appropriate, and it would be nice to have their concerns addressed as well. But for the majority of our population, Eat to Live is must read.

Visit Dr. Fuhrman's site at www.drfuhrman.com

I have made my fair share of goodies. I have made mashed potatoes and gravies and perogies, cakes and fried cutlets. Holiday cookies and cane sugar spiked beverages.


If I want to live...really live, I must stop what I am doing and look for a cure. My primary care doctor isn't looking to cure me. My pharmacist sure isn't. My dermatologist barely knows I exist. My rhuemotologist isn't trying to get me drug free or extend my life in any way. That means it is completely up to me to stop making excuses and get me is gear.
I want to live.
I do not want to merely live to eat..I want to eat to live...