Update: Now after the response from Linda, I realise that suggesting this way of eating might cause more harm then health. But its worth investigating what effect foods has on the body, by observing the causation in the body. Addiction to diets might be as harmful to you as one or another substance, or any addiction for that matter. Anicca...

This is a bit off track from dharma. I want to raise this issue because I think it is important and if I would have been more concerned about what I used to eat, it would have helped a lot along the path. Eating healthy is helping to be in balance, and just eating healthy will help you to get less drowsy, dull, forgetful, depressed. I will try to make it basic and easy to remember how to consume. You are welcome to criticise in case you think something is wrong. I base my knowledge on experience and studies; among them Stig Bengmark who I read now.


First, stop consuming: Sugar, gluten, dairy and wrong fats

These 3 are useless. You will get the sugar you need, it is everywhere, cut the extra. There are some good stuff in dairy like calcium, B12, riboflavine etc. but you can get these from other sources. Gluten and the proteine caseine in milk is preventing renewal/growth in the gut flora. The gut flora is verry important for the body to pick up nutrients. The body takes sugar first and therefor other nutrients get abandoned.

Wrong fats: cow fat, olive oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil (omega 6)
But there is some good stuff in cold not processed olive oil and rapeseed oil like omega 3, even though there are better sources. Don't worry too much about oils, I think.


300g meat/ week is enough. Stop eating processed meat like smoked, fried, barbequed, sausage, meatballs, hamburgers etc. Avoid meat from animals that eat concentrated food and eat instead meat from animals that eat grass, wild animals. No farmed fish, find instead wild fish.


If you are vegan/vegetarian you need B12, omega 3, vitamine D, calcium. Maybe also iron, magnesium, B2, iodine, vitamine K etc. It depends how you eat. A low intake of B12, vitamine D and zinc will make you depressed. Vitamine D you get from the sun. B12 you can get from lactic acid, kombucha, mung beans. Zinc is easy to find in plants, nuts, seeds. Or get supplements. There are supplements from algae containing omega 3 with both EPA and DHA.


Raw food is the key to success. Eat a wide range of vegetation; vegetables, sprouts, herbs, nuts, seeds, some grains (not wheat like most bread and pasta nor white rice)


Check out https://foodpharmacy.blog/

It is important to bear in mind that bodies are different. Most foods make me really sick, with muscle pain, joint pain, brain fog, fatigue, headache, hay fever, stomach illness, flue symptoms, open wounds in my mouth, and so on. I tried to follow a machrobiotic diet before, and it made me even worse. That diet is pretty much consistent with what you recommend. What I eat now is partly compatible as well, but those two diets are still in many ways opposite to each other. I would recommend a food diary for those who need to eat healthier, unless one has an eating disorder or is in risk of developing one. If that is the case, all kinds of talk about healthy diets are usually harmful. For those who suffer from other health symptoms that may be related to food, a food diary keeping track of symptoms and seeing patterns can be revolutionary. Getting to know one’s own body’s needs and limitations is essential. Diets that are supposed to suit everyone and are marketed that way are dangerous in my experience.

That is a verry good point! This which I wrote is focused on keeping a healthy gut flora. But I suppose there are also other ways. There is never one things that suits everyone perfectly, but there are some things which is more universal then others. I thought that what I suggest is a universal way. But I also noticed how some things is not so good for my body even though someone like this guy I read, says it is.

Yeah, exactly. Many foods that are supposedly good for one’s gut flora are very rich in histamines, and an increasing number of people - especially middle aged women - are sensitive to histamines. It may actually have been the macrobiotic diet that triggered my extreme reactions to so many foods. I was sensitive to foods before that, but definitely not like that. A year or so later, the woman who was selling the diet joined the community for people with histamine intolerance as well, so it seems like she became ill as well.

It seems like gluten, suger and dairy are problematic for many people, but because of my experiences I wouldn’t recommend any extreme diets for anyone who doesn’t already need it. It just might backfire. I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what I have been through.

It's interesting to me that there are so many diets of such a great variety that claim both scientific validity and efficacy at keeping people healthy.

A quick correction. “If you are vegan/vegetarian you need ...” should instead read “If you are human you need ...” These are needs of all people, and just because someone consumes animal products, it is not correct to assume they get enough of these. Example: everyone I’ve known with deficiencies in these were meat-eaters, whereas I’ve never met a vegan etc with deficiencies in these. Vegans etc get these from fortified foods, vitamin supplements, and often even naturally from foods they already eat (especially the omegas and D).

We must be careful about our deeply ingrained cultural conditioning regarding diet. The belief the human body requires animal products to be healthy is a cultural story, not a biological fact. So this affects the 300g meat bit too. Completely unnecessary, destructive of the environment, one’s health, one’s Sila, the animal’s welfare, etc. Plenty of us live an awesomely energetic and healthy meditation existence without any of these things in our diet, supporting excellent mental health along the way. So let’s all strive to get the facts straight.

What is right in the original post: yes, limit the meat intake, and raw is awesome. 

With metta...

Yes, the scientific method is a very poor fit for studying human health and illness.  It's been noted elsewhere what all the issues are, and it's quite a hopeless situation.  One of the biggest things with food is all the emotional associations that are elicited, both negative and positive.  Everyone nowadays wants to blame mental health problems on food.  When I was young, no one had allergies to anything, not even peanuts.

And yet it's the best we've got, history as witness.

Or maybe they just didn’t survive long enough for anyone to discover the allergy, or for you to meet them.

You forgot to mention high nutrient dense foods like:

liver 
eggs 
cured raw milk goat/sheep chesse (vitamin k2)
fish roe
mussels/oysters/clams etc
sardines/chub mackerel


(organic/grass fed/wild caught - preferably)

Wonderful answears This is an awesome forum!