I had some food classes at the rehab for a heart healthy diet. Some of you probably read the book from Dr. Ornish and also Dr. Andrew Weill wrote a lot about it. The first thing they advised us about was to skip on salt. Just use a maximum of 2,000-2,300 mg of salt per day. And it really helps to read the food labels! It is amazing how much salt and sugar is added to processed foods nowadays. Very addictive stuff. And what also surprised me was, what huge amounts of salt and sugar are added to processed food. Soy sauces, soup powders are especially high on salt, but you can also find smoked salmon with lower amounts of salt at Whole Foods and Traders Joe. I mention fish, since fish is recommended in these days for a heart healthy diet.
Today I got some news from Germany, that diet only helps about 10% for heart patients, but I am still investigating this info and fact is that the medical doctors and the industry still seem to grope in the dark and finding out new stuff every day. But I always felt, it is important what we put into our bodies and for people with heart problems and maybe for everybody else too it is important to do daily exercises and add meditation as a practice.
Of course we still have to live with what our ancestors gave us as free gifts in our DNA.
So once again I started a quest to discover hidden unhealthy agents in my daily food and I found a few things, which I had shared on my facebook page and will repeat here.
Soy milk: I stumbled upon some discussions at Google about soy milk. I personally love unsweetened organic soy milk and always bought Silk soy milk and also sometimes the private label from Trader’s Joe, which my friend Alicia informed is the same thing. I also read about the problems associated with soy products, but it is always such a nice morning meal together with muesli, fresh ground flaxseed, flax seed oil and blueberries or raspberries.
I always soak the muesli for at least one hour to make it easy to digest.
Now on the Internet there were a lot of discussions about GMO free soy milk and although Silk was a brand of highest quality in the past, this Boulder based company (White Wave) came under heavy discussion, when you google them. Apparently a lot of their soy products in the past has been bought from China and Brazil and any organic food product from China
From my research I decided to switch to Eden soy milk, which also now has an unsweetened organic soy milk and that is GMO free soy milk from smaller US farms, with which Eden works together since decades. And Eden products have been tested many times and always came out clear of GMO.
I invite you to make up your own mind and read:
Here is the report on Eden:
Here are some discussions on the Silk brand:
While I was reading these I found a story on Steve Demos, who was the original founder of White Wave Boulder. I have utterly respect for Steve, one of the real pioneers in the organic food industry.
Another thing I have always been struggling with is dairy. I was a vegetarian and often also vegan for over 35 years. As a vegetarian I often used dairy as my main protein and of course dairy has lots of fat and also the tendency to add weight very quick. I had my years on and off dairy for most of my life as a vegetarian. One thing I can say, when eating dairy I always gained weight and when I was off dairy I lost weight.
Right now I am off dairy and just have occasionally a spoon of Greek low fat yoghurt added to my muesli. But I found I feel better without this actually. More and more I come to the conclusion, that cow milk is for cow babies and there are many issues with dairy:
Whenever possible I like to buy organic products. In the summer it is easier to get organic products from the Farmers Market, but here in Santa Fe we also have Whole Foods, Montanita Food Co-Op, Vitamin Cottage now Natural Grocery and Traders Joe.
Here is some info on buying organic:
Osho once said in the Osho Upanishads series, that no vegetarian ever won the noble price. Later on in that series he recommend to his sannyasins to eat 2 unfertilized eggs per week. Osho considered unfertilized eggs vegetarian and ok for a holistic lifestyle which includes meditation and awareness. Here is some extra info on how to choose reasonable healthy eggs, since most of us do not have chickens in our backyard.
I like to eat organic raw almonds or organic almond butter to keep my cholesterol in check. The issue with raw almonds in the USA is that these almonds get irradiated. California produces 85% of the world’s almonds and it is only possible to get non-irradiated organic almonds in the US, when you buy directly from the farmer in amounts of less then 100 pounds. A small loophole in the law: if you like more info, please check this link.
And last, if you buy pre-washed, bagged organic salads, please read this. It is still important to wash also pre-washed organic salads.
In my next blog I will share my recent experiences with healers and sessions givers in Santa Fe. As a feedback and as a warning.
Stay healthy, stay sane, namaste.
Bhikkhu
Thanks for the info B. I also much prefer the taste of soy but I feel very apprehensive about consuming it after reading about its hormone effects. Also, I prefer Almond Breeze almond milk (blue diamond) but its not organic... so my conclusion was Pacific organic unsweetened almond milk. Maybe if you mix it half half with soy you minimize risk? Or maybe alternate between the two so you don't overdo the soy?
ReplyDeleteAnyway thanks for the useful info. I am looking forward to summer as I think buying local is just as important as buying organic.
Cheers!
Suparni
Hi Bhikkhu,
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of the Weston Price Foundation?
They have a lot to say against soy. For instance on the issue of it being a so-called staple in Asia, they have the following to say:
"Soy proponents claim that soy is a staple in Asia. A "staple" is defined as a major commodity, one that provides a large portion of calories in the diet, such as rice and fish in Japan, or rice and pork in China. The Japanese consume 150 pounds of fish per person per year, or almost one-half pound per person per day and a 1977 dietary survey in China determined that 65 percent of calories came from pork, including the pork fat used in cooking. By contrast, overall consumption of soy in Asia is surprisingly low. The average soy consumption in China is about 10 grams or 2 teaspoons per day. Levels are somewhat higher in Japan, averaging about 50 grams or 1/4 cup per day. In both countries, soy is used as a condiment or flavoring, and not as a substitute for animal foods. Seafood and seaweed in the Japanese diet provide sufficient iodine to counteract the negative effects of the isoflavones in soy."
Read more:
http://www.westonaprice.org/Soy-The-Dark-Side-of-America-s-Favorite-Health-Food.html
Dr. Weston A. Price ((1870–1948) was a dentist and nutritionist who went around the world researching and recording the eating habits of indigenous people. He came here to New Zealand too and studied the eating habits of the Maori. He also went to the Lötschental in Switzerland, the Inuit of Alaska, Andes Indians of Peru and the Muhima of Uganda etc.
He found that people who ate traditional diets (the diets of our great-grandparents) achieve perfect physical form and perfect health, generation after generation, because they all consumed nutrient-dense whole foods and the vital fat-soluble nutrients found exclusively in animal fats.
Read more:
http://www.westonaprice.org/Weston-A.-Price-DDS.html
Lastly, I was wondering if you have had root canals done at all? As there might be a connection between them and the heart.
If root canals are not done properly they can harbor high-toxicity producing infections that can put a real damper on the immune system.
A quote from the Weston Price website:
"The principles of holistic dentistry, based on the research of Weston Price and Francis Pottenger, are as follows:
Eat nutrient-dense whole foods, properly grown and prepared.
Avoid root canals. If you have root canals that you suspect are causing disease, have them removed by a knowledgeable dentist.
Avoid mercury (amalgam) fillings. If you have amalgam fillings, have them removed by a holistic dentist who specializes in mercury filling replacement.
Orthodontics should include measures to widen the palate.
Extract teeth only when necessary, and then in such a way as to avoid leaving the jaw bone with cavitations, which can be focal points of infection."
And finally, soaking muesli for an hour is not enough to make it digestible, because we don't have the digestive system to digest grains, unlike ruminants like sheep and cattle who have 4 stomachs.
And fruits should always be eaten by themselves, not in combination with grains, otherwise you're setting up a brewery in your stomach!
Rolled oats need to be soaked for at least 24 hours (and preferably 48 hours). Put your bowl of soaking oats in the fridge to stop it going off and then cook them long and slooow! Keep them overnight wrapped up in a duvet. Porridge, the traditional diet of us, Northern Europeans!
I have written a small ebook about porridge:
http://www.sambodhiprem.com/porridge/porridge.html
love
Sambodhi Prem
Thank you Sambodhi Prem. All my mercury is gone from my teeth since 1992. But I had periodontic work done during the last 2 years and had a tooth pulled out last summer due to infection there. But I do regular teeth cleaning every 3 months. I am aware of the connection.
ReplyDeleteI read your book about porridge and was cooking porridge for the last 4 years and just added Muesli since last summer.
I read that the Japanese mostly use their soy products in form of miso and tempeh etc.
There is a lot to learn and experiment with nutrition and all of our systems are so different.
Our diet right now seems to work very well, but we strive to improve on it.
Much love, Bhikkhu