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DIET
"You are what you eat", says a macrobiotic slogan.
And up to here, everything is clear. Problems arise when one poses
the problem of what is better to eat (or to be).
Perhaps one appreciates the nutritional principles of macrobiotics,
but doesn't want to be a tofu and soy sauce springroll. What do
you want to be?
Modern medicine exalts the Mediterranean diet fashionable fifty
years ago: little meat, few fats and milk-products, and plenty of
seasonal fruits and vegetables.
Vegetarians maintain that one needs to eliminate animal fats because
they are unhealthy and amoral. The exponents of macrobiotics exalt
a diet composed of 50% of organic whole grains, a 40% of vegetables
and a 10% of seaweed, various seeds, cooked fruit and Japanese culinary
monstrosities. They maintain that this is the most suitable diet
for man's biology.
"Like heck!" retort the exponents of the raw diet. "Humanity
din't eat cooked grains for thousands of years!" One needs
to eat only raw vegetables and fruit. A lot of fruit. Bread kills!
Besides, primitive man took days to find 50 grams of cereal.
"Lunatics!" others say, "Humanity cannot survive
without the most traditional food that has sustained him for millions
of years: insects!"
Now, rationally, the exponents of the insect diet are right. But
experts in psychosomatic medicine3 are not wrong to maintain that
to eat live worms, ants and grasshoppers is so disgusting that the
resulting depression has more harmful effects on the body regardless
of the benefits of such a diet.
I have come to the conclusion that in order to
find a balanced diet, one needs to follow one's desires and common
sense. Above all, common sense. If you eat meat, don't give up Coca-Cola.
It's a powerful corrosive. It helps break down your steaks. But
if you eat only soy and joy, don't drink Coca-Cola. If it doesn't
find the steaks to break down, it will corrode your guts.
Even some rigid diet prescriptions should be taking
with circumspection. It is true that primitive man was vegetarian
and insectivorous such as gorillas are today, our closest relatives.
However, it is also true that around once a month, the great apes
are taken by a strange frenzy that makes them tear to pieces small
mammals and to devour them raw.
Equally, the rigid prescription of macrobiotics, which prohibits
milk products, is a little suspect. In the 1970's, Brazilians complained
that powdered milk, sent as nutritional aid by the USA, caused stomach
pains. So the Americans said "Idiots! Powdered milk should
be dissolved in water, otherwise it is clear that it causes pain".
"Sure as heck we don't eat it dry! We're not stupid",
replied the Brazilians.
"Then it's because you don't use boiled water and you drink
fecal coliforms that look like eels", responded the North Americans.
"We're not brain-damaged, you know!" rejoined the pissed-off
Brazilians. At this point, someone decided to investigate the matter
better. So they analyzed the gastric juices of a number of Brazilians
and discovered that they lacked a certain enzyme that renders milk
digestible. Better still, it was discovered that only peoples who
have based their diet on milk and milk-products for millenniums
have this enzyme.
The Chinese and Japanese don't even know what cheese is and for
them to drink milk is a disgusting practice.
And they're right, seen that they don't even have the enzymes to
be able to digest it. So it isn't entirely stupid that macrobiotics,
which originated in Japan, maintains that milk is very bad for you.
It's true. For them.
Therefore, I believe that everyone should form his own diet plan
by following instinct and desire and without taking anything too
rigidly.
There
are however some general principles which I believe everyone can
agree with.
1 • Don't overeat. 1700-2000 calories are more than sufficient
to keep oneself in splendid form. One should eat to satisfy hunger
without feeling one's stomach burst. Better still, we should get
up from the table with still a bit of appetite left.
2 • The first digestion takes place in the mouth. Chew your
food. There are those who even say 36 times. And then, it is a good
rule to in a calm frame of mind.
3 • Eliminate foods from the diet that have a high chemical
content. Colourants, taste-enhancers, additives and pesticides are
harmful. But even here, let's not panic. It was noted, for example,
that people who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables have less likelihood
of getting cancer. Vegetables, particularly cabbage, cauliflower
and broccoli, have the power to free the body of toxic substances.
This benefit was proven by monitoring the eating habits of thousands
of people, which means that even if around 50% of the vegetables
are chemically treated, the harmfulness of herbicides and parasiticides
is inferior to the benefit that vegetables are able to give us.
Instead, it is harmful to consume meat from animals raised with
hormones and other junk. If you eat meat, choose it well. However,
it is to be said that in countries where the consumption of meat
has fearfully risen in the last 50 yeas (it is now decreasing),
besides a huge increase of cholesterol and heart attacks, a similar
huge increase of the average life span was registered. That is to
say, to eat a lot of fats is better than to eat very little food.
Finally, it is nevertheless indisputable that one attains enormous
advantages by eliminating "chemically-ridden" and adulterated
products, canned meat and alchemies in precooked powder. You don't
have to be Einstein to understand that McDonald's french fries are
no panacea for the liver. You need only sniff the smell that expands
by a hundred metres all around (however even I eat them once in
a while, I confess). In any case, go easy on fried foods. If you
really can't resist, fry at home with cold pressed extravirgin olive
oil. This is what real olive oil is called. It should say on the
label. This is crazy Italian law on the classification of foods.
If the all rigmarole doesn't appear, you risk buying oil pressed
with warm solvents and then filtrated and rectified. Avoid it.
Likewise you should avoid all those vegetable oils advertised on
TV. They are also obtained with chemical means and not by pressing.
4 • Don't eat a lot of meat. Not more than once or twice a
week. Prefer fish to meat (according to macrobiotics, the bad list
is: pigs, cattle, sheep, rabbits, birds, fish and crustaceans).
5 • Favour whole-grain organic cereal, vegetables and fruit.
Whole-grain cereal particularly helps keep the intestine clean and
to have a regular bowel movement. But they should be organic because
the husk of the cereal absorbs chemical agents. Vegetables and fruit
should always be washed well, perhaps leaving them to soak with
a bit of bicarbonate, which seems to neutralize potential toxic
substances.
6 • Vary the diet. Our body needs a great variety of microelements.
The more varied the diet is, the more the body is able to find all
that it needs.
7 • Eat well. Food should be a pleasure for the mouth, the
nose and the eyes. I know a man who cured his wife from a persistent
and terrible headache and his daughter from depression and a suicide
wish (attempted many times) by cooking delicacies one after the
other. Each single meal should be as homogenous as possible. For
example, only milk-products, or eggs, or fish, or meat as far as
fats are concerned. Vegetables and fruits should instead be mixed.
Fruit is best eaten before meals or by itself.
Listen particularly to your sense of smell. It is the nose that
signals us if a food should not be eaten. Therefore, before swallowing,
sniff. I believe these are essential rules.
To end, a word on fasting. It is a great method of healing. Actually,
fasting means a liquid diet based on fruit and vegetable juice (squeezed
on the spot). One must never deprive the body of indispensable sugars
and salts. And be careful not to begin a fast if you are very debilitated.
It would do more harm than good. The body cleanses itself with a
fruit juice-based diet. Toxins are eliminated and physiological
functions are revitalized. Three days are an excellent medicine.
But under medical supervision, one can arrive at 12-15 days.
Another detoxifying cure consists in eating only boiled whole-grain
organic rice. To succeed is difficult because after a day, you really
get sick of rice. But you will begin to spit out mucus from everywhere
and your sweat will stink awfully. You have the impression of getting
rid of all the foul matter. But perhaps there is another reason:
that the body is so sickened that it will show it to you in every
way.
I have never succeeded. I always give up by "cutting"
the rice with two boiled carrots and zucchini, and in the morning
by eating whole-grain puffed rice wafers with butter and jam. In
short, pleasure-loving behaviour. However, the cure helped me just
the same. This is the meaning of our discussion: "You have
to play it by ear".
(Continue)
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