Deadly Harvest: The Intimate Relationship Between Our Heath and Our Food (37 page)

Avoid deep-frying.

Reduce boiling and roasting.

Prefer stir-frying, steaming, and microwave steaming.

Reduce consumption of processed foods to no more than 3 servings per week.

Keep meals simple.

Eat little but often.

Spend at least 30 minutes, once per day, feeling slightly hungry.

Dietary Tips

Eat fruit on its own.

Avoid combining Group 6 foods (Meat, Poultry, Eggs, and Fish) with Group 2 foods (Grains); that is, protein/starch combinations.

Accumulation of Lapses

“
Red” foods—limit to no more than 1 per day (none is best).

“
Red-Amber” foods—limit to no more than 2 per day (none is best).

“
Amber” foods—limit to no more than 3 per day (none is best).

Stage 3: Infinity and Beyond

By the time you have completed this stage, you will be in conformity with the Savanna Model and you will be feeding your body in its comfort zone. You will discover the good things that happen when your biochemistry and digestive system are functioning as nature intended. Fighting a life-threatening degenerative disease? Then this stage is for you. Get to the center of the comfort zone, where your body is not just coping, it is positively rejoicing with its newfound ability to hum along like a perfectly adjusted machine.

Cooking and Food Preparation

Reduce consumption of processed foods to no more than 3 servings per month.

Prefer organic foods wherever available.

Avoid deep-frying

Reduce boiling and roasting.

Prefer stir-frying, steaming, and microwave steaming.

Keep meals simple.

Eat little but often.

Spend at least 30 minutes, three times per day, feeling slightly hungry.

Dietary Tips

Eat fruit on its own.

Avoid combining Group 6 foods (Meat, Poultry, Eggs, and Fish) with Group 2 foods (Grains); that is, protein/starch combinations.

Accumulation of Lapses

“
Red” foods—limit to no more than 1 per week (none is best).

“
Red-Amber” foods—limit to no more than 2 per week (none is best).

“
Amber” foods—limit to no more than 3 per week (none is best).

WHAT TO EXPECT AS YOU CHANGE YOUR DIET

When you start to eat naturally, you are making major changes in the structure of how and what you eat. These changes have repercussions and during the transition phase may be uncomfortable. That is why it is wise to introduce the changes gradually.

Your digestive system will be in a state of shock, at least temporarily. For years, you have, probably unwittingly, been abusing and mistreating it. Many of its functions will have shut down. Your new way of eating will bring some immediate benefits: for example, elimination of bad food combining will dramatically reduce digestive problems. The increase in soluble fiber from fruits and vegetables will force lazy and atrophied intestinal muscles to limber up and become operational again. But be prepared for bouts of diarrhea or constipation for several weeks—this is normal during the transition period.

You will also start to lose excess fat from your body—that is the good news. However, as the glucagon machinery swings into action, fat will dissolve into your bloodstream, delivering its cargo of unpleasant chemicals. While the body eliminates them, you may suffer discomfort from their presence in the blood. Be prepared for symptoms, such as increased allergy activity, headaches, and feeling “one degree under,” during the transition period.

Food is a potent factor for modifying the hormones in the body. As you shift the emphasis on what you eat, particularly from “bad” carbohydrates to “good” carbohydrates, you will be modifying your hormonal balance. During the transition period, you may feel the effects: mood swings, sugar cravings, and headaches, for example. This is normal.

Once you have restructured your way of eating, you will find that bowel movements will occur once or twice a day. They are soft and easy to expel, do not have a noxious odor, and are copious in quantity. Food will have a rapid transit time through the digestive tract. When you get to this point, you will know for sure that you are eating correctly. Rejoice at the wholesome feeling of health and tone in your intestines. The friendly flora and fauna will flourish, providing most of the bulk in the feces. Instead of having a clogged-up sewer system for a gut, your digestive system becomes an efficient toxic waste disposal unit.

When you eat in accordance with the Savanna Model, mouth hygiene is also vastly improved. The mechanical action of chewing a high volume of raw vegetable matter stimulates and hardens (keratinizes) the gums. Saliva quality is also improved; most people on a Western diet have a deregulated saliva composition. The saliva should contain a balanced cocktail of enzymes and antibacterial agents. Once you are eating in accordance with the Savanna Model, the saliva finds its equilibrium and fulfills a major role: keeping the mouth sterile, wholesome, and sweet-smelling. If you have poor tooth and gum health, do the best you can to get it fixed: often people are pushed into poor food choices just because they cannot chew the right foods comfortably.

HOW DOES THE SAVANNA MODEL APPLY TO ME?

The Savanna Model applies to everybody, but here we look at the specific implications for various groups. Everyone should read the next section on babies/toddlers—not only does it set the tone for everything that follows, it will guide you in your relations with those who have infants even if you do not have any of your own.

Babies/Toddlers

Up to the age of about four years, human babies are “lactivores” or milk drinkers. Nature designed them to nourish themselves on human breast milk. In primitive societies, babies are not fully weaned until they are about four years old, although solid foods, sometimes partially pre-masticated by their mothers, are introduced slowly from about 12 months of age. That is the ideal, but what to do in the modern world? Mercifully, the breastfeeding movement has made this practice not only acceptable but also practical. Today, mothers can give breast to their child in public places, something unthinkable as recently as the 1960s. The vast majority of mothers in the industrialized world, nevertheless, find it hard to breastfeed after about 12 months, let alone to pre-masticate pap for a two-year-old.

Fortunately, the companies that make formula milk are getting very good at making a product that imitates human milk as closely as possible. Reminder: in America, you have to avoid soy-based formula milks. Most other countries ban them because their antinutrients harm babies’ health.
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In other respects, formula milks have come a long way in the last 50 years: no more cow’s milk allergens, a healthier ratio of fats to proteins, and a much better composition of vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids. They now have products that mimic the fact that the composition of mother’s milk changes as the baby gets older. For example, in the first weeks of life, a baby’s biochemistry cannot use the essential fatty acids linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid. During this time, the mother’s milk (and now specialized formula milks) contain compounds that compensate for this.

However, mother’s milk contains antibodies and other compounds that protect the baby from disease early in life; formula milk cannot provide these. So, breastfeed if you can and for as long as you can, then move onto, and supplement with, the best formula milk you can find.

What about solid foods? The first principle is to follow the Savanna Model. The more the baby eats in accordance with the general principles formulated in this book, the better. Second, since people like to eat what they have always eaten, the best start in life for your baby is to give him or her the taste for healthy foods. When they are used to eating healthy foods at this stage, that liking will stay with them for life.

The first good habit to instill is the eating of plant food. No need to make special arrangements: just take what you, as a Savanna Model practitioner, eat every day and reduce it down to a form appropriate to the child’s stage of development. Today’s food blenders are a good substitute for the masticating jaws of the mother.

The next solid to be introduced should be fruit. However, take the precautions that we make for everybody: focus on the lower-sugar, lower-glycemic fruits (the “Green” category). Do not give too much at one time and give it on an empty stomach. No point in making your baby’s life a misery by bad food combining. Give fruits to your baby every day.