HOW TO CHANGE YOUR EATING HABITS IN 5 STEPS

I have always striven to eat as healthy as possible and for a very long time, I thought I was having a good eating lifestyle taking into consideration the facts that I do not drink, I do not smoke, I do not drink coffee, I do not eat fast food, I do not eat processed foods or microwaved food. I do not eat dairy, with the only exception being butter. I eat meat once a month or on Esther and Christmas (you cannot refuse food from your parents), and that’s usually some sort of fish. But I was eating chocolate. Lots of sweets and sugar. And that compensates for all the other bad eating habits. Sugar is the most toxic substance for the human body. Sugar is poison. Sugar is the main cause of obesity, chronic diseases, cholesterol issues, heart attacks, cardiovascular problems and ALL other diseases.

Change No 1 – Sugar Free

I have struggled many, many years with my chocolate addiction and you might not believe me, but I was eating a whole bar of chocolate per day for many years when I was younger, however, I had always been thin and skinny so people really ever believe me when I explain that I too know how it is to live with a sweet tooth condition or sugar addiction. My mood was up and down, my skin was always having problems, issues with my stomach because of so much processed sweets.

Many years ago, I discovered the science of food combining, that was around 7 years ago, I acted on the principles of proper healthy food combinations and indeed, I felt lighter, I felt my body was able to digest food better and I liked knowing I was doing it. At that point I was still eating chocolate and sweets. Whenever I started eating more mindfully back then, I must have forgotten to read the chapter with sweets or something, because I cannot understand how such an important aspect of the food combining principles has missed my eyes and mind. This basic, most important, in my opinion, principle, is this:

YOU NEVER EAT SWEETS, SUGAR, CHOCOLATE, DESERTS AFTER ANY MEALS. SUGAR MUST NOT BE COMBINED WITH MEALS.

When sugar is combined with meals it creates indigestion first of all, but then the liver transforms it into ALCOHOL. So, I was basically an alcoholic for so many years without even thinking that it was in fact eating sugar that created it.

In November 2017, I came across the food combining principles again, and only by pure hazard, I was reading about gluten and breads and sugar references popped my eyes. When I read that sugar must never be combined with other foods as it converts into alcohol in the liver, going into the bloodstream, affecting not only the liver but the whole body, I just could not eat it anymore. That’s how my sugar addiction was cured. Once and for good!

Realising that I was poisoning myself on a daily basis with each meal, as I had no meal with no little sweet treat, and there were no going outs, even if it was to buy groceries, that I would not buy something sweet and small to eat on the way home. That something small and sweet was usually a vegan chocolate, an organic chocolate. Cakes, pastries and cookies, biscuits had been left behind around 1 year ago, because of the too many E’s in them, and I just wanted to clean up my diet, even if it meant to get rid of small things, like biscuits which I would anyway eat occasionally.

I still cannot believe how much alcohol I had in these last years. I am surprised I am not an alcoholic. Oh, wait, but I am! You might not know but alcohol is actually made up of sugar. Sugar is the most powerful toxin in the food industry and we do not even know we consume something that it is so dangerous to our health. It does not kill you instantly. It will kill you slowly everyday so that eventually, after a lifetime of suffering from all illnesses and sicknesses you endured, you die because of the chaos created in your body. Sugar is nowadays in so many foods. There is no bread on the market that does not contain sugar. There is no canned food that does not contain sugar. Sugar is also a natural preservative. Therefore, the food industry loves it. If you take a look at the label of each processed food that you buy, you will be horrified to notice you are actually dosing your brain with so much sugar that without knowing, your brain is now addicted to it. If you do not get a strong wake up call, you will not give it up.

You might say to yourself, no, I am not addicted to sugar. I just need to eat something sweet; I just want a bit of sweetness. It’s like hearing myself from outside my body, as if I would be a witness of my past self. I know those words by heart. Have you ever wondered why you need that little sweet thing? Why do you need to have it after each meal, in between meals, and pretty much all the time? You are like conditioned by your addicted brain to go in search of the sugar. In search of everything is sweet. In search of death. Command your brain and put a stop on this illusion that you need sugar in your life. That you cannot live without sweets. That everyone on Earth is eating sweets and sugar and that your grandma was eating a cup of tea with sugar every day and she is 90 years old now very happy and healthy. Forget about the reasons your mind is trying to convince you that sugar is not bad. It is bad. It is the cause of all diseases. Look it up.

I had been sugar free for 2-3 months now. I did not feel the need for sugar or chocolate at all. I am happy to continue with this healthy eating habit in 2018 and I wish to inspire you to start appreciate your body as it cleans you up every day of all this toxin and other substances that should never enter our bodies, and to inspire you to at least read more about it. Only if you come across an information that strikes you, you will change something. But that can only happen if you are determined to understand, to read, to do your research. You do not need to believe me.

But I urge you to seek the answers, especially if you are willing to make a change, to try improve your eating habits, to enhance your body’s energy and to help it cure you, to help it help you. Your body needs good food to function properly and to be able to support your endeavours, in order to help you achieve your goals, whether they are personal, physical or career objectives.

Change No 2. – Less Gluten and Gluten Free Days

I mean, it is not just a trend or a posh lifestyle. It is extremely important to start consuming less gluten. I do not believe I will be gluten free entirely, but I am already doing gluten free days and making sure I am consuming less and less gluten on a daily basis. You know the drill with gluten, it is hard to digest. Or this is what you are told. But it’s not just that, or the fact that you feel sluggish during the day, or the fact that you feel tired all the time, as these are my symptoms.

You see, the problem is not necessarily the gluten itself, but the way our bodies react to it. It creates an inflammatory reaction in the body, in the intestines, creating small scratches which to get cured, the body needs to put extra effort into fixing that, so inflammation occurs. Which again, prolongs the process of digesting other foods you intake as the intestines are in a bit of convalescence mode, and think about it, as this happens daily, with each meal you eat something containing gluten. It is also something a bit hard to avoid, and the other day I bought buckwheat flour, which is naturally gluten free, however the seller put on the label that it may contain gluten as it was stored together with other grains which were not gluten free and therefore the gluten can get transferred to the gluten free flours or grains.

So, it is a lot of work that you need to do if you want to go gluten free. If it’s not stated on the label or on the front of the packaging or somewhere that it is gluten free you might end up with a product that you thought it is good for you, and instead to be the opposite. As in my case. I mean, the struggle is real.

I have decided to make my own gluten free bread, organic and homemade, much tastier and healthier than the ones in commerce. I use organic yeast to grow the bread and I also intend on learning how to do sourdough bread. But that’s probably once I have mastered the gluten free bread.

I do not wish to give up gluten because I have a health issue with it, but because I wish to prevent that from happening. Therefore, my logic tells me to eat less and less gluten and avoid it as much as possible. Have gluten free days. Make my own gluten free bread (which is so tasty and healthy). Eat other nutritious grains such as the highly praised quinoa. Now, you know the reason it’s so on top of everything. And everywhere.

Mind this: it is not the gluten the problem, it is the way your body reacts to gluten that the issues is, and for which we need to be careful. I have made a commitment to myself to only eat gluten in weekends and not the same type of gluten, from the same grain, but from other grains, such as amaranth, another nutritious vintage grain, that we should all consume more of. I am not for eating rice, as for rice to be harvested it is very unhealthy for the people living in the area and it is not eco-friendly, although you would think that something which nature has given would be ecologic for the environment. But no. Look it up. You will be surprised. And anyway, too much carbs are not healthy either.

Change No 3 – A TOTAL GREEN Veggies Day per week

I also intend on incorporating in my lifestyle a day in the week to eat only greens, vegetables and nothing else. I do want to eat more greens every day, however a study has been conducted and I heard about it on Thomas Delauer Youtube channel and I think it is an amazing discovery that if you go plant based one day per week, you are able to give your body all the vitamins and nutrients needed for a whole week.

Of course, this does not mean that you should stop consuming vegetables during the other 6 days of the week, it simply means that research proved that only one day per week being green can impact positively on our health in such way, that it will maintain your health to an almost optimal level. Plant based diets have proved to give a boost of energy through their vitamins and nutrients and all the minerals’ vegetables contain and so, having only one day per week in this style, can help a lot. Imagine going 3 days. But I would like to start small.

Greens help out to clean out the liver, the body of all the toxins and it also provides the body with all minerals and vitamins needed. Only one day per week going green will give all the minerals and vitamins required by the body for that week. And this should be appreciated again by our bodies and our minds. Understanding the power plants and herbs and spices have, we can cure our bodies. We can maintain a optimal health level and we can go after what we want to achieve because we are not stopped by the lethargy of our body trying to fight over another infection or cold or illness that invaded our bodies.

Change No 4 – Intermittent Fasting for 3-4 Days per week

I have started doing intermittent fasting last year in May (but at that time I did not know or remember that sugar must not be combined with meals, rather eaten separately, on an empty stomach, if you really need to, and drink lots of water to get it out of your system and to clean the bloodstream of its toxins) and I am still on it since December 2017, properly doing it, giving up sugar from my meals. If you do not know, intermittent fasting means to have an eating window of 6-8 hours in which you have either 2 meals or 3, and the time that passes from your last meal today until the first meal the next day is at least 16 hours or 18 hours. I found that 18 hours fast was better received by my body however I do stick with the 16 hours for hormonal balance.

When I started doing intermittent fasting back in May last year, I had been doing it every day for 3 months, because my cycle stopped after the second month, I decided to have the fasting period shorter and I diminished it to 13 hours. After the first month in this eating habit, my cycle came so I started again IF, but this time, increased the fasting period with 1 hour or 1 hour and a half. Next month, my cycle again stopped. So, I stopped the IF for around 2 weeks, time in which I actually got sick, catching a flu or cold or something that knocked me down completely for around 3 weeks. In those 3 weeks I had had 1 or 2 days per week with 16 hours fast simply because I did not need to eat or felt the need to ingest food and because I felt my body needed time to process the flu and destroy the bad bacteria. After I got well, in the middle of November, I started IF with again 16 hours fast. Some days with 18 hours, some days with 12 hours. I was not keeping track because I got accustomed to not eating in the morning and to not eat after 9 o’clock.

In November I came across the healthy and proper food combination and stopped having sugar with my meals. I had something sweet homemade once a week on an empty stomach and then from December as mentioned above completely gave it up. I feel much healthy without the poison. It is probably the most hidden unknown poison in our food. Since December 2017, I stopped keeping track of my IF, in the sense that I feel better having only 3 or 4 days per week. Hormonal balance is also extremely important for women health and I believe I should not be taking a habit if it affects my overall balance, even if it is a healthy habit. IF cleans up your liver and your body of toxins, if done properly, with lots of vegetables and greens apart from the regular natural healthy food intake.

However, you can still benefit from IF (and fasting in general is very good for the health, for the brain, for the mind and for overall wellness) by doing it a couple of times per week. I would also like to start fasting once a month or every 2 weeks (water fast), for the same benefits. This is one thing I had not tried – to fast for one day. But there’s a start for everything. So, this year, I am committed to 3 days per week IF, 1 day fasting probably at the beginning I will have it once am month, and the reason for this twist I am making, is to not interfere with my hormonal balance, since I noticed having it like this, my cycle gets healthy again.

Change No 5 – Regular Physical Activity and Increase of daily exercise

I cannot really remember the last time I had put my heart to run. I do cycle to work, however I cycle slowly, occasionally I have the energy to speed up but I would not count that as physical exercise. Would you? Therefore, this year, I would really want to incorporate in my lifestyle regular physical activity, and I will do this at home, to start small. Baby steps. If I would choose to go to the gym now, in the physical condition I find myself now, I will have a sore body for a whole month.

The baby steps I would like to take consist of stretching my body, small weights lift, body exercise and walk more. Increase my daily steps. Ever since I cycle to work (which started around 3 years ago), I stopped walking. I used to walk to work and from work back home and when doing groceries and that was for more than 2 hours per day in total, which is a total contradiction to the number of steps I take nowadays. At most 20 minutes.

Walking is highly de-stressing, calming and providing enhancements to our mental health. It is natural to walk and I must start using my feel more often. Working on a computer and staying on a chair all day long is stressful, unhealthy and totally useless to my healthy lifestyle and eating habits if I don’t do some form of exercise too. That’s a personal resolution too for new year.

WHAT CHANGES DO YOU INTEND ON MAKING FOR YOUR HEALTH THIS YEAR?

Your health is the most important asset you will ever owe. Treat it with care. Your health is also your right. But, as with many human rights, sometimes you need to fight for it. And this fight, is with your own self.

STOP THIS SUGAR NON SENSE INTAKE IN YOUR BODY