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Book details
Good Food V. Bad Food
You Are What You Eat: The Plan that Will Change Your Life
by Gillian McKeith, Ph.D.


In this book
» Introduction
» You Are What You Eat
» Good Food V. Bad Food
Related Topics
Tea
Vitamins
Herbal Medicine



GOOD FOOD


LIVING FOODS OR RAW FOODS

Living foods are raw foods. These foods have not been cooked, boiled, stewed, microwaved, frozen, baked or steamed. As a result, they are still in their original state and contain their food enzymes. Food enzymes are the life force of food and help the digestion process. Raw fruits, raw vegetables, sprouted grains or sprouted seeds all contain food enzymes. We need an abundant supply of food enzymes to nourish our bodies, provide us with energy and balance our metabolism.

The most noticeable deficit in my patients' old diets was that their meals were completely missing food enzymes. Most of them never ate anything raw.


GOOD CARBS

These are the carbs without the added refined sugar: for instance, fruits, whole grain breads, grains, rice and vegetables. These healthy carbohydrates (called complex carbs) contain naturally occurring sugars that the body can easily and slowly metabolize for balanced brain function, mood attitude and useful energy. They are not stripped of their nutrients.


ORGANIC FOODS

"Organic foods" means foods that are free of chemicals. Foods that are organic have been grown in soils that have not been sprayed with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Remember, if chemicals have been sprayed on the produce that you eat, from chemically treated soils, then those chemicals, which are toxic, will enter your body cells and bloodstream. Who knows what damage they will do? There are numerous studies which show that chemicals inside our bodies do not help our health.


GOOD PROTEIN

Vegetable proteins are easy to break down in the body. Quinoa is an example of a vegetable protein that is very easy to digest. It looks like a grain and you can make a tasty porridge with it. Sprouts (not Brussels sprouts, but sprouts that are grown from seed) are a more efficient, cheaper and healthier form of protein than meat. Combining beans and grains together forms a complete protein too, easy to digest and enhancing to the metabolism.


GOOD FATS

Fats have a terrible reputation. In this era of low-fat foods and fat-free diets, the crusade against fats has almost gone mad. The most zealous campaigners even condemn oil-rich nutritious foods like nuts, seeds and avocados, but no one can ever blame heart disease on avocados!

I generally advocate good fat foods such as nuts, seeds and avocados to my patients. These oil-rich foods contain healthy fats which are necessary for aiding weight reduction, lowering cholesterol, enhancing immunity and nourishing the reproductive organs, skin, hair and bone tissue, effectively lubricating our bodies. These are the good fats, vitally important and necessary for life itself. And these fats help you to metabolize fat. They are so important that they are called essential fatty acids (EFAs).

Your body cannot make EFAs, so you must get them through the foods you eat. I think they really should be called essential thinny acids. That's how I refer to them in my practice and my patients seem to like the thinny concept better. Flax seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sea vegetables, fish and avocados are good examples of these essential, thinny fats.


UNPROCESSED FOODS

These are foods that have no added chemicals or other additives. This food is in its orginal state, the way nature grew it. It has not been changed. Some packaged foods still contain foods and ingredients in their original state. Start reading labels (see page 176) and become more familiar with what goes into the foods you eat.

The crusade against fats has gone mad.


BAD FOOD


OVERCOOKED VEGGIES

Most of my patients, when they first come to see me, overcook vegetables. Many tell me they don't even like vegetables. I contend that they simply do not know how to prepare them. For some reason, we often have a tendency to boil our vegetables to death, and in the process lose all of their vital nutrients.

To get the most out of your veggies, either eat them raw or simply steam them lightly for two to three minutes maximum in most cases.


BAD CARBS

Simple carbs are the sugary, refined type of carbohydrates which are not good for you. These include chocolate, cakes, cookies, sweets and anything made with added, refined sugar or flour or processed white rice. During the refining process, the majority of the minerals and vitamins are removed, and these foods behave like pure sugar when they enter the body. They rush into the bloodstream, causing blood glucose disturbances and sugar cravings. Eat too many of these foods and you will undoubtedly have mood swings. You may get depressed, angry and irritable. If you want to be fat and ill, eat bad carbs. Excess bad carb residues are stored as fat in the body. And finally, years of bad carb eating could lead to diabetes. It's not worth the risk.


NON-ORGANIC FOODS

Non-organic foods, such as non-organic fruits and vegetables, have been sprayed with chemicals and grown in soils that have been treated with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The residues of these chemicals make their way into our bodies when we eat these non-organic foods. They harm our cells and organs and damage our digestive systems. These chemicals become toxins in our bodies, polluting and poisoning us.


BAD PROTEIN

Depending on how strong your digestive system is, some proteins may simply not be good enough for you. Most people on my TV show You Are What You Eat had very weak digestive function, so proteins from red meats were hard for them to break down.

Too many high-protein, fatty, red animal foods can toxify the body and acidify the blood, deplete calcium, overwork the kidneys and liver, stagnate digestion and destroy the beneficial bacteria. This can also lead to kidney stones and liver fatigue, colon and bowel disorders, constipation, arthritis, osteoporosis and heart disease.

Even cow's milk is too difficult for many people to digest. It can trigger allergic responses such as sinusitis, asthma, earache, congestion, runny nose, skin rash, eczema, fatigue, lethargy and irritability. Whole cow's milk is too high in saturated fat, low in vitamins, and the mineral content is out of balance with human biochemistry; as a result, many of the nutrients cannot be absorbed by humans. Also, cows are normally subjected to hundreds of different drug injections, hormones, pesticides, drug residues which in turn make their way into the milk. If you must drink cow's milk, boil it first to make it easier to digest.

Try goat and sheep's milk as alternatives, as the molecules are smaller and easier to break down. There is also an abundance of alternative milks on the market that are easy to digest: rice milks, soy milks and other grain milks.


REFINED FOODS

The modern diet contains many refined foods. All the participants on You Are What You Eat had diets full of refined foods. Refined foods are stripped of their original, natural nutrient content and fiber. The consumer is left with a more concentrated, unnatural sweet version of the original food. Refined white flour and white sugar are the two most common examples of refined foods. These ingredients are then used in a multitude of other "foods." Baked goods, chocolates, fast foods and frozen dinners to name a few are the types of foods filled with additives and preservatives to give them a longer shelf life. These foods really should be called "non-foods." They cause havoc with the health of the body as the body is not designed to deal with these nutrient-depleted, industrial, false foods.

On the show, I met one participant who only ate refined, processed, preservative-laden foods. Yvonne, who was overweight, depressed, exhausted and constipated, survived mainly on chips and microwaved meals. She never, ever ate real food. To bring Yvonne to her senses, I teasingly suggested that if she were to drop dead tomorrow, her body would literally take years to decompose because she was so full of all these preservatives. That was a bit of a shock, but she definitely got the message!

. . . Years of bad carb eating could lead to diabetes. It's not worth the risk.


BAD FATS

Saturated animal fats are heavy and turn to stone inside the body, hardening the arteries, leaving you at risk of heart attack and stroke. Red meat, pork, dairy products, butter and cheese are examples of foods that are fat saturated. The body is not designed to deal with these types of fats. High bad-fat diets raise blood pressure and cholesterol levels, can interfere with blood sugar levels and cause liver stagnation, which can lead to depression and weight gain. The body cannot effectively process bad fats, so many are turned into toxic balls and stored in the body, making you even fatter.

Hydrogenated fats are the results of a process that hardens liquid vegetable oils. Shortening and margarine are hydrogenated fats, so potato chips, chocolate, sweets, ice cream, pastries and baked goods all contain hydrogenated fats. The hydrogenated fats change into the ever more dangerous trans-fatty acids which have been shown to cause diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Trans-fatty acids also cause you to gain weight as they interfere with the metabolism and breakdown of essential fatty acids. They increase the bad cholesterol in the body and deplete the good.


PROCESSED FOODS

The processing of foods changes the original food and the proportions of the nutrients within these foods. Many prepackaged and plastic-wrapped foods, quick fix, microwaveable, fast and boil-in-the-bag type foods have gone through a multitude of processes before they end up in the supermarket. These foods have little or no nutritional value.

The food industry allows more than three thousand food additives to be used in the processing of food. And just because many of these additives and chemicals used in the processing of our foods are deemed safe, it does not mean that they are. So chemicals, food additives, coloring agents, sweeteners, artificial flavors, dyes, nitrates, nitrites, preservatives to prevent spoilage, acids, maturing agents, bleaching agents, emulsifiers to maintain consistency are all finding their way into our bodies via these easy-to-prepare packaged foods.

These processes can cause allergic reactions and stress on the liver to process such chemicals, many of which are cancer forming. Children exposed to such processes can become hyperactive and display learning difficulties.


THE WORST EATER I EVER MET

Andy, a twenty-six-year-old computer specialist from Essex, England, took part in the pilot for the TV show You Are What You Eat. His girlfriend had just left him a week before and it had been a terrible shock. He was devastated and severely depressed when I first met him.

Andy's life consisted of gorging on food during the day and bingeing on drink at the pub in the evening. A sample of his everyday diet: potato chips, chocolate, white bread, burgers, more burgers and even more burgers, French fries and loads of beer. This young, blond, strapping six-foot two-inch man with chiseled features weighed 392 pounds. Andy was clinically obese and his poor food choices were ruining his life. He was exhausted, out of breath, had terrible indigestion, gas and bloating, and was really down in the dumps. His gooey, sticky, slimy, unhealthy stools stank to high heaven and he was sweating far too much, even when sitting down.

My biochemical tests revealed that his mineral and vitamin profiles were dreadful and he had the lowest level of essential fatty acids (EFAs) I have ever seen in my many years of practice. This meant he could not break down fats properly.

I gave him an ultimatum: Follow my program or die young. Do what I tell you and I will continue to work with you. Step out of line and I walk out on you. Andy made the right choice. He wholeheartedly embarked upon my program, which was as follows:

No red meat
No refined white sugar
No refined floury pastries
No chips or fries
No alcohol
Unlimited amounts of fresh raw fruits and vegetables, raw seeds, nuts and some legumes, pulses and grains
Moderate daily exercise
This pub-crawling greaser even started to juice his own wheatgrass and carrot juices every day, instead of downing pints at his local. End result: Andy lost over fifty-six pounds in less than three months and he felt great. Although he is still in the process of losing additional fat, today Andy is a new man and he looks great too.


GOOD FOOD = BETTER LIFE

So you can see how food makes all the difference to your health and well-being. It provides the great majority of the nutrients you need to stay healthy and happy. Food has the most incredible influence on your emotional, mental and physical states. Eating healthy, high-quality food is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to create a better life. By thinking more closely about what you eat and making healthier food choices, you can get the most of your food and the best out of your life. Because you truly are what you eat!

Previous: You Are What You Eat

Copyright © 2005 by Gillian McKeith. All rights reserved. This excerpt, or any parts thereof, may not be reproduced without permission.

About the Author

Gillian McKeith, Ph.D., is the internationally acclaimed clinical nutritionist and director of the renowned McKeith Research Centre in London. Her extensive clientele includes professional and Olympic athletes, members of the royal family, and famous celebrities. Dr. Gillian is the presenter of You Are What You Eat, a smash hit prime-time TV show in the UK, and the author of the number-one bestselling book You Are What You Eat, which is now being translated into other languages around the world. She is also the author of Living Food for Health (Piatkus/Basic). Raised in Scotland, Gillian now travels extensively, giving lectures and seminars to packed audiences.

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