What is "Healthy Eating" and how do you know you are doing it?

[andyswarbs]

As a child one day I fell down from the top of our stone staircase from top to the bottom. My mum treated me by putting butter over the painful parts, including my forehead. I don't want to repeat the incident, but without much external help my body healed itself. Today there are no scars to remind me of the incident, just the vague memories of an 8 or 9 year old.

What this tells us is not that butter is somehow a magic potion, rather that the body can and will heal itself given the right circumstances. Children have the right circumstances aplenty and are thus able to fend off many of life's challenges with aplomb.

As an adult I don't particularly want to roll down the staircase ever again. But I think with a very healthy eating when your body is attacked, say with a cold, flu, accident that it recovers reliably - almost as fast as it did as a child!

So why don't adults heal the way children heal? Enzymes are one reason. When we get to the sad age of 30 the normal human body does not generate enzymes as effectively, with a 10% reduction per decade as far as I remember. This means our guts become more temperamental and less able to deal with viruses, auto-immune related illnesses etc.

As a child the continual avalanche of enzymes means a child's body is able to deal with most anything that can be thrown at it. This means the skin looks youthful, as we say.

Well here I am, now a 66 year old, with a new lifestyle that has largely resolved my arthritis to the point that medication is no longer needed. Surprisingly I also find myself strangely immune to colds and flu, despite kissing and hugging those nearest and dearest who have succumbed to very bad chest coughs that simply have not gone away. And yet I seem to be able to stay clear of them.

In fact let me throw caution to the wind and say I consider my risk of getting flu next to zero, and therefore the need for a flu vaccine a waste of my time, despite having a long history of arthritis with a flu vaccine being recommended!

And yes, my skin is far from that of a youth, but it is clearer and healthier than it has been for decades. I don't use any creams or lotions, in fact my use of soaps has reduced as well. All I do to enable this is to follow what I consider a healthy lifestyle, mostly diet and exercise.

So I think I am doing something right.

Rather than me following this with a diatribe on my personal magic potion, I would rather ask if others have experienced this kind of life improvement by changing their diet and exercise, and if so what changes you have made.

[Zest]

Hi Andy,

I am intrigued as to the treatment of putting butter on your injuries when you had fallen as a child - is that something that was commonly done? Do you know why your Mum did that? I am glad that you healed well, and that you only have a few vague memories of it.

Interesting to hear how your healthy eating and lifestyle have affected you - some great outcomes. An inspiring post.

For myself, I would say I feel much healthier to have a 'healthy BMI', and no longer be carrying around excess weight, and I have noticed that my skin has improved, and I have more energy, and more enthusiasm for life.

I am reluctant to describe my lifestyle prior to following a healthy eating regime, as I prefer to be 'in the moment' and enjoying the present day.

Zest

[TheAwfulToad in reply to Zest]

Back in the day, butter and lard used to make everything better

[Hidden]

I now only eat halal or kosher meat and believe this helps me feel better.

But i still dont trust to kiss sick people. You are blessed not to get sick, good for you.

[andyswarbs in reply to Hidden]

Can you describe why this meat should make you feel better?

[Cooper27]

Through diet I've managed to control my autoimmune thyroid disease, which will hopefully prevent my immune system from killing off my thyroid gland. I still have to figure out what my food triggers are, but I'm a lot better than i was this time last year. Last year I also seemed to catch every bug going, especially as I started off my dietary changes. So far this winter, I've managed to avoid all sorts of things going around the office! And I've not had a sick day at all

Unfortunately I see friends around me who have symptoms like I did, catch every bug going, suffer from anxiety. I'm gently trying to persuade more people to consider nutrition (or more specifically, gut health) as the root cause, but it's a fine line between gentle persuasion and pestering - people often need to develop their own interest in nutrition if they're to really listen to you.

[andyswarbs]

Thanks for suggestions. I think you are arguing that the way to know if the body is healthy is through blood tests, etc. Will that tell you if your arteries are becoming blocked?

I avoid supplements, ayurvedic or otherwise, where possible on the premise that real food is a much better source from a scientific perspective. My skin is clear and healthy, so I don't thnk VitE is warranted.

I can walk uphill at pace without issue so I don't think I need any fish, bone broth. I will not jump ropes due to osteo arthritic damage in both knees and my right elbow. My exercise most days is hot bikram yoga, normally 90 minutes of pure sweat. I've done this kind of yoga for over two years. This coming Sunday I'll be treating myself to a 5-hour yoga extension class which will include the 5 tibetans and a focus on backbends.

[andyswarbs]

B12 is my one and only supplement. There's a lot of research showing that although certain nutrients are associated with better health, that taking these as supplements leads to poorer health outcomes.

Far better to work on better food choices.

I am thinking of starting a don't wash supermarket veg petition so that we can fet veg with its b12!